Class 




\A 



i\.. 



CCKRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



JESUS-OUR STANDARD 



By 
HERMAN HARRELL HORNE 

Ph.D. (Harv.) 

Professor of the History of Education and the History of Philosophy, 
New York University 




THE ABINGDON PRESS 

NEW YORK CINCINNATI 









Copyright, 1918, by 
HERMAN HARRELL HORNE 






9235 

<^^Q | 









TO 

THE BOYS' WORK SECRETARIES 

OF THE 

YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATIONS 

OF THE 

UNITED STATES AND CANADA, 

MY FRIENDS, 

WHO FOLLOW AND TEACH 

JESUS AS STANDARD 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Preface 9 

CHAPTER I 

THE FIVE IDEALS OF COMPLETE LIVING 

I. The Nature of Ideals 19 

II. Man as Body and Soul 22 

1. The Function of the Body. 

2. The Functions of the Soul. 

III. The Four Elements of Human Nature 26 

IV. The Ideals of Complete Living 26 

1. The Physical Ideal. 

2. The Volitional Ideal, Including Vocational 

and Social. 

3. The Emotional Ideal. 

4. The Intellectual Ideal. 

5. The Sp'ritual Ideal. 

V. Hierarchy of the Ideals 40 

VI. Need of a Personal Concrete Ideal 41 

VII. Nature of Religion and Christianity 42 

VIII. Symbol of Complete Living 43 

CHAPTER II 

THE PHYSIQUE OF JESUS 

I. The Question of His Heredity 49 

II. ihe Childhood of Jesus 52 

III. The Adolescence of Jesus 55 

IV. The Growth of the Silent Years 56 

V. Influence of His Trade on His Teaching ... 59 

VI. His Appearance 61 

VII. His Body the Medium of Emotions 67 

5 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

VIII. His Commanding Presence 67 

IX. Fatigue, Hunger, and Thirst 69 

X. His Strength of Body 70 

XI. The Instincts of Jesus 73 

XII. The Normality of His Physique 74 

XIII. Docetic Views 75 

XIV. The Holy Temple 77 

XV. His Recognition of the Body 77 

1. As Provider. 

2. As Healer. 

XVI. Unconsidered Questions „ 82 

XVII. The Body for the Soul 83 

CHAPTER III 

THE GOODNESS OF JESUS 

I. Jesus and Skill 89 

His Appreciation of Vocational Skill. 

II. The Personal Goodness of Jesus 102 

1. The Temptations. 

2. The Character of Jesus. 

3. Recognition of Personal Goodness in His 

Teaching. 
III. The Social Goodness of Jesus 125 

1. The Friends of Jesus. 

2. His Qualities as a Social Worker. 

3. His Social Teachings. 

CHAPTER IV 

THE EMOTIONS OF JESUS 
I. His Sense of Humor 150 

II. The Gospel of Joy 154 

III. His Love of Persons and Nature 157 

IV. His Compassion 160 

V. The Anger of Jesus 174 

VI. The Disappointment of Jesus 178 

VII. The Gratitude of Jesus 180 

VIII. His Sense of Dependence 184 

6 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

IX. His Dependence Through Prayer 187 

X. Caution, but not Fear 191 

XI. The Peace op Jesus 195 

XII. Many Other Emotions 197 

XIII. Jesus as an Artist 199 

XIV. Conclusions , 204 

CHAPTER V 

THE INTELLECTUALITY OF JESUS 

I. His Intellectual Alertness 207 

II. Qualities op His Intellect 209 

III. His Love of Truth 212 

IV. His Reasoning and Dialectic Skill 214 

Illustrations. 
V. The Marvel of His Wisdom 228 

1. Two Sources of His Knowledge. 

2. His Formal Acquisitions. 

3. Home Training. 

4. School Training. 

5. The Wide Range of His Information. 

6. Some Things Jesus Did Not Know. 

7. Medical and Literary Views. 

8. His References to Future Events. 

9. Divine Intuition. 

10. His Central Truth. 

11. The Source of His Consciousness. 

12. His Knowledge of the Scriptures. 

13. His Rejection of the Scribes as Interpreters. 

14. His Originality. 

VI. Jesus as Philosopher 250 

1. A World of Persons. 

(1) God. 

(2) Angels. 

(3) Man. 

(4) Satan. 

(5) Demons. 

2. The Natural Order. 

7 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

3. Sense and Spirit. 

4. Time. 

5. Space. 

6. Progress. 

7. Truth. 

8. Life. 

9. His Sense of His Mission. 

VII. Summary 273 

CHAPTER VI 

THE SPIRITUALITY OF JESUS 

I. Nature op Spirituality 277 

II. How Jesus Spiritualized His Body and the 

Physical Order 278 

III. How Jesus Spiritualized the Three Kinds 

op Goodness 280 

IV. How Jesus Spiritualized Beauty 281 

V. How Jesus Spiritualized Truth 282 

VI. Spirituality op Jesus Vital and Inclusive . . . 283 
VII. His Life Spiritual 284 

1. The Temple Incidents. 

2. The Baptism. 

3. The Temptation. 

4. The Kingdom. 

5. The Teaching on the Hill. 

6. The Miracles. 

7. Spiritual Background of Ethical Relations. 

8. The Scriptures the Revealing Word of God. 

9. Prayer Answered. 

10. Children Emblems of the Divine. 

11. The Second Coming of Jesus. 

12. "The Father" the Spiritual Center. 

13. Spiritual Comfort. 

14. Spiritual Prayer. 

15. Spiritual Sorrow. 

16. The Risen Christ. 

VIII. Spirituality of Jesus the Standard 297 

8 






PEEFACE 

A completed task lies before me, the better 
part of a winter's work. 

In sincerity I can transcribe a paragraph 
from the prefatory note of Elizabeth Stuart 
Phelps in her Story of Jesus Christ: "There 
has come to me, during the time given to the 
growth of this work, an experience always full 
of wonder and of charm. Often, on waking 
in the morning, after days of the most absorb- 
ing and affectionate study of the Great Life, 
the first conscious thoughts have been: Who 
was with me yesterday? What noble being 
entered this door? In what delightful, in 
what high society, have I been!' I felt as if 
I had made a new, a supreme acquaintance." 

The idea underlying the book is that Jesus 
is our standard, both personal and social. 
This idea was conceived and the preliminary 
draft of this work was made at Lake Couchi- 
ching, in August, 1915. Mr. Taylor Statten, 
Boys' Work Secretary of the Canadian Y. M. 
C. A., had invited me in a series of lectures 
to connect the "Canadian Standard Efficiency 
Tests" with the life of Jesus. This was done, 

9 



PREFACE 

and the published revision of the Tests con- 
tain my Preface. 

The preliminary form of the "American 
Standard Tests" has since used the same basis, 
though these Tests are still undergoing re- 
vision. 

Now at length appears the full development 
of the idea of the fullness of life in Jesus, of 
the idea that this life truly viewed is the stand- 
ard for human personal and social living. 
Our efficiency tests under Christian auspices 
can use the life of Jesus as their normal ideal. 

The now well-known "four-fold development" 
— intellectual, physical, religious, and social 
(Luke 2. 52) — of the two sets of tests is here 
broadened into five through giving independ- 
ent recognition to the emotional element and 
by making the religious or spiritual an en- 
ch\ Ung test covering all the others. In prac- 
tice, in applying the four tests of physique, 
goodness, emotions, and intellect, the spiritual 
should be a phase of each. 

The order of the discussion — the will pre- 
ceding emotion and the intellect following 
both — indicates the voluntaristic viewpoint 
throughout. Activity is the primary prin- 
ciple, emotions are the psychic side of in- 
stincts in action, and ideas follow acts and 
feelings, as well as guide succeeding acts and 

10 



PREFACE 

so produce other feelings. The data have to 
be classified in some way, and the classifica- 
tion into physical, volitional, emotional, intel- 
lectual, and spiritual has historic value, is as 
useful as any other, and also lends itself to 
the functional viewpoint; that is, acts, feel- 
ings, and ideas are modes of adjustment of the 
organism to the environment, ideas particu- 
larly having value as tools of adaptation. 

In these tests the historic triangle of the 
Association, "body, mind, and spirit/' has 
already become a square — body, mind, spirit, 
and society ; which in turn I should like to see 
become a square inclosed by a circle — body, 
will, emotion, intellect, and spirit; or, using 
the three dimensions, the cube become the 
sphere, as worked out in Chapter I. 

The life of Jesus has been studied from 
countless standpoints, but not, I think, from 
this one before. Very little has been written 
about the physique and psychology of Jesus. 
Dr. G. Stanley Hall's two volumes, Jesus, the 
Christ, in the Light of Psychology, which are 
likely to prove monumental, have just come 
from the press, too late to be considered in 
finishing this study. 

We have studied Jesus our standard as he 
is presented in the Gospels. Into questions 
of the credibility of the Gospels we have not 

11 



PREFACE 

entered. It is the Jesus of the Gospels who 
is our standard. Christianity is the control of 
life by the spirit of Christ, which is equally 
possible to men of diverse literary and critical 
views of the New Testament. The Gospel 
records are taken as the data upon which this 
study is based, in interpreting which I am 
especially indebted to Hastings's Dictionary 
of Christ and the Gospels, 1 a very helpful 
work recommended to me by Professor Riggs, 
of Auburn Theological Seminary. The views 
here presented will probably not be found in- 
consistent with modern sound criticism. For 
linguistic and exegetical aid I am also in- 
debted to Dr. J. P. Taylor. 

In treating this theme, in which there are 
gaps now of ten and now of eighteen silent 
years in a short life of nearly thirty-three, it 
is easy to let one's imagination go, and present 
Jesus as a boy the best swimmer, runner, and 
fellow in Nazareth, and as a young man 
traveling for his education in Egypt and India, 
etc., but we have resisted this temptation, 
and have held to the records and what they 
clearly imply. Open the book at random and 
your eye will probably light not upon com- 
ment or preaching, but a statement of some 
fact or its implication. Here are neither 

*Two volumes. Scribners, New York, 1911-1912. 

12 



PREFACE 

exegesis nor dogmatism, but humanism and 
realism. 

Allow me to associate this study of Jesus 
as standard with the labarum of Constantine, 
the story of which is briefly told. The labarum 
was one form of the Roman military standard, 
a kind of banner. When Constantine was on 
his way to attack Maxentius, in A. D. 312, 
according to the story told by Eusebius, he 
had a vision of a flaming cross in the sky at 
noonday, with the legend ev tovtu vita ("By 
this conquer"). The incident led to the em- 
peror's conversion to Christianity. Another 
version is that the vision was seen by Constan- 
tine in a dream. Constantine had already 
doubtless been impressed by the misfortunes 
of the vigorous opponents of Christianity. At 
any rate he adopted the monogram ?ft, the 
Chrismon (^ = Chr. == "Christos" in Greek, 
or Christ) as his device, gave successful 
battle to the revolting Maxentius, became the 
master of Rome and the West, and gained 
toleration for Christianity, hitherto perse- 
cuted, throughout the empire. Gibbon, how- 
ever, says that Constantine did not show the 
device to the army until 323. 

Thus the old Roman cavalry standard, bear- 
ing the effigy of the emperor, or general, or 
a hand or animal as emblem of the legion, 

13 



PKEFACE 

became the Christian military standard with 
the new emblem of the Chrismon, whose use 
was continued by the Christian successors of 
Constantine. "Eusebius describes the first 
labarum as consisting of a long gilded spear, 
crossed at the top by a bar from which hung 
a square purple cloth, richly jeweled. At the 
upper extremity of the spear was a golden 
wreath encircling the sacred monogram, 
formed of the first two letters of the name of 
Christ. In later days the monogram was some- 
times embroidered on the cloth. A special 
guard of fifty soldiers was appointed to pro- 
tect the sacred standard." 1 

Not only did the labarum become the gen- 
eral standard of the Roman army under Con- 
stantine and his successors, but the monogram 
itself was put on the shields of the soldiers, 
and began to appear on tombs and in works 
of art as the symbol of Christianity. 

The term "labarum" now carries a triple 
significance. It is the fighting banner of the 
early Christian emperors, it is also a similar 
ecclesiastical banner borne in processions of 
the Roman Catholic Church, and it is a moral 
standard or guide. The point of this book is 
that Jesus is our standard, our military and 
moral standard, in war and peace. "The Son 

1 Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th ed., art., "Labarum." 

14 



PEEFACE 

of God" is still going "forth to war," in his 
name we still set up our banners, as soldiers 
of Christ we rise and put our armor on, we 
test our lives by his. So, throughout the dis- 
cussion, the practical emphasis appears. Jesus 
is standard, ideally; individuals and society 
need to make him so, really. 

Keeping in mind the things we have not 
attempted in these pages will help to prevent 
misunderstanding. These things are: a life 
of Jesus, a philosophy of Jesus, a theological 
interpretation of Jesus, or a criticism of the 
Gospels. In contrast with all these, our aim 
has simply been to present the Jesus of the 
Gospels as our human standard. 

H. H. H. 

Leonia, N. J. 

New Year's Eve. 



15 



CHAPTER I 

THE FIVE IDEALS OF COMPLETE 
LIVING 

"Set ye up a standard in the land." 
— Jeremiah 51. 27. 



17 



CHAPTER I 

THE FIVE IDEALS OF COMPLETE 
LIVING 

I. The Nature of Ideals 

Ideals are ideas of remote ends that func- 
tion. An idea is theoretical, an ideal is prac- 
tical. An idea is theoretical in the sense that 
it is intellectual; an ideal is practical in the 
sense that to some extent at least it controls 
experience. We may have ideas of things to 
be done at once, and we may have ideas of a 
plan of life to be realized through the coming 
days. The former type of ideas does not pass 
into ideals, though it may exemplify ideals. 
The latter type of ideas, that is, ideas of remote 
ends, does pass into ideals when it begins to 
be effective in shaping our experience. An 
ideal doing no work sinks back into the region 
of the idea whence it came ; an idea of a remote 
end to be accomplished that shapes our con- 
duct to some extent becomes an ideal. "Psy- 
chologically ideals are more or less remote 
ends of action whose realization is sought 

19 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 



The Value of 
Ideals 



The Growth of 
Ideals 



through the mediation of reflection and 

effort." 1 

It is our ideals that give value to life ; they 
put into our experience those qualities we 
deem most valuable. They are the compass 
or the star by which we steer our course in 
safety and peace. Values come into human 
experience through the ability of ideals tena- 
ciously held to regulate experience. Choices 
made in accordance with ideals introduce the 
worthier elements into human life, eschewing 
the less worthy. Ideals also motivate life; 
that is, they give motive and power. By giv- 
ing us something worthy to live for and to 
live by, they call out the latent powers of our 
being. So ideals are valuable because (1) they 
introduce values into life; (2) they regulate 
life; and (3) they motivate life. In fact, with- 
out ideals man lives out an animal rather than 
human existence. 

Now our ideals grow with our experience. 
Saint Paul wrote to the Corinthians : "When 
I was a child, I talked like a child, felt like 
a child, reasoned like a child; when I became 
a man, I put from me childish ways" (Wey- 
mouth translation). We now smile at the 
ambitions and ideals of our childhood. With 
1 E. S. Ames, The Psychology of Religious Experience. 
Boston, 1910, p. 285. 

20 



IDEALS OF COMPLETE LIVING 

the larger experience comes the clearer vision 
of the true, real, and abiding values of life. 
But for this vision not to become distorted 
it is necessary that one always walk in the 
light he has. We must expect our ideals to 
move on as we approach them and to change 
their formulation as we increasingly realize 
them. In fact, from the racial standpoint, 
the ideals of barbarism are not those of 
savagery, nor are the ideals of civilization those 
of barbarism ; and it is equally true that the 
ideals of Christianity are not those of present 
civilization. Ideals have moved on ahead with 
the race in its journey, like a pillar of cloud 
by day and a pillar of fire by night. Even if 
ideals in their essence did not change, but 
remained the same yesterday, to-day, and for- 
ever, still the race's views of those ideals do 
change with growth, and this amounts prac- 
tically to the ideals themselves changing. 

Now, ideals, growing with human experi- weais Express 

/, , . j, ■, ■ rrti Human Nature 

ence, are a function of human nature. The 
ideal horse is the perfect horse of his kind; 
and so of any animal. All angels, we suppose, 
are ideal beings of their kind. But man is 
neither lower animal nor angel ; his ideals are 
relative to him, his kind, his nature. Human 
nature at its possible best gives us the ideals 
for man. If we want to know what the ideals of 

21 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 

man's complete living are, we must know what 
human nature is at its best, what its elements 
are, what it is possible for each element to 
attain in its development. Thus the real is 
the basis of the ideal, the real at its best is the 
ideal; the real is the actual, the ideal is what 
is possible for the real to become. Such 
idealism as this has its feet on the ground, 
is practical. Idealism without reference to 
what the real can become is visionary. So the 
ideals of complete living express the latent 
potentialities of human nature. 

II. Man as Body and Soul 

But what are the elements of human na- 
ture? To begin with, we say man has a body 
and a soul. The term "soul" is synonymous 
with self. The precise connection between 
man's body and his soul no one knows. Some 
suppose the two interact upon each other — the 
common-sense, dualistic view — though nobody 
can show how. Others suppose the light of 
intelligence is thrown off by the body like 
sparks from an emery wheel, the soul being 
the effect of the body, but so outside the circle 
of real events, such an "epiphenonienon" (Hux- 
ley), that it cannot affect the body. Others 
suppose the two run along parallel with each 
other, the "parallelistic" view of Fechner. 

22 



IDEALS OF COMPLETE LIVING 

Still others think man has only body and no 
real immaterial soul at all — the materialists. 
Still others think man has only soul and no 
real material body at all — the idealists. And, 
again, others think the two, body and soul, are 
an identity whose nature is unknown and 
unknowable — these are those agnostics who 
nevertheless maintain the unity of existence. 

These several theories regarding the mutual 
relationship of body and soul, though impor- 
tant in themselves from the speculative stand- 
point, need not detain us further here. They 
all agree in emphasizing two things : the inti- 
mate relationship of body and soul and our 
profound ignorance of just what that relation- 
ship is. Meanwhile we bridge the gulf of our 
ignorance with the hyphen and call man a 
"psycho-physical" organism. In this sense we 
are all hyphenates. And in our present life 
we can dispense with neither side of the 
hyphen. 

1. The Function of the Body. The function 
of the body is to be the medium of adjustment 
of soul to its material environment. The body 
is material, and so is one with the physical 
universe. At the same time through its 
arrangement of afferent and efferent nerves, 
it effects communion with the soul in some 
unknown way. Thus the soul can receive im- 

23 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 

pressions from the external world by means 
of the body and also manifest expressions of 
its own nature in the form of reactions upon 
the external world. 

2. The Functions of the Soul. For the 
functions of the soul we consult psychology 
and try to verify its findings by looking within 
ourselves. There are three main functions of 
the soul, each simple in its beginning and com- 
plex in its conclusion. These three functions 
are willing, feeling, and knowing. 

willing Willing is the activity of the soul in such 

varied forms as instincts, impulses, imitation, 
suggestion, habit, choice, and attention. It is 
probably the primary function of the soul in 
both time and importance. 

Peeling Feeling is the accompaniment of the ac- 

tivity of the soul, agreeable when the activity 
is normal, disagreeable when the activity is 
abnormal in any way. It appears in manifold 
forms in the coarser and finer emotions and 
in the sentiments. Feeling is not only an 
index to the well-being of the body; it is also 
the grand inspirer to activity and the great 
giver of warmth and vividness to ideas. It is 
the secondary function of the soul. 

Knowing Knowing is first the result and then the 

guide of activity. It is the content of soul 
representative of fact. Some of its complex 

24 



IDEALS OF COMPLETE LIVING 

phases are perception, memory, conception, 
imagination, judgment, and reasoning. It 
portrays for us in pale fashion the world, our 
neighbors, and ourselves. As a rational guide 
of conduct it makes conscious progress possi- 
ble. It is the tertiary and concluding func- 
tion of consciousness. We need not stop now 
to inquire what new function of the soul, if 
any, may be budding in the process of its 
present racial development. 

These three functions of the soul are not overlapping 
really distinct from each other, though we JJUJ^J* 01 
have to discuss them one at the time. They 
overlap as a twisted cord composed of three 
strands. Our acts give basis for our emotions 
and reality to our ideas. Our feelings stimu- 
late our actions and enliven our ideas. Our 
ideas interpret our emotions and guide our 
conduct. Thus the soul of man is a unity 
in variety, which might be represented by the 
following diagram, in which, though each 
function has a field of its own, it also overlaps 
each of the other two. 



25 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 

The Interrelated Functions of the Soul 




W = willing 
F = feeling 
K = knowing 

III. The Four Elements of Human Nature 

To sum up our inquiry regarding the main 
constituent elements of human nature: we 
find these to be two, the physical and the men- 
tal; the mental again is threefold, giving us 
in all the four phases of human life as the 
physical, the volitional, the emotional, and the 
intellectual. 

IV. The Ideals of Complete Living 

We have now seen what the elements of 
human nature are. But we were led to make 

26 



IDEALS OF COMPLETE LIVING 

this inquiry in order to discover the ideals of 
complete living : The ideals of complete living 
are the elements of human nature at their 
best. That life is complete each of whose con- 
stituent functions finds its true and satisfying 
goal. The ends of true living are the fruitions 
of the natural functions of human nature. 
What then are these ideals? 

1. The Physical Ideal. First, the ideal 
for the physical man. There can be no 
reasonable doubt that the ideal state of the 
body is health. In the condition of health 
the body can perform the maximum of work 
with the minimum of expenditure. Health 
and vigor of body are a golden mean between 
asceticism, which subjects the body to the 
interests of the soul, and professional athletic- 
ism, which subjects the soul to the interests 
of the body. Asceticism has characterized 
periods of emphasis on other- worl dliness ; 
athleticism periods of emphasis on this-world- 
liness. 

The conservation of health in our days is conservation 
receiving especial attention. Among the many of Health 
agencies working to prevent ill health and 
maintain good health may be mentioned the 
"safety first" movements; workmen's compen- 
sation laws; pure food legislation; the "new 
thought" movements in religion ; playgrounds ; 

27 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 



Historic 

Appreciation 
of Health 



Locke Quoted 



athletics; physical training; home, school, 
and social hygiene; gradation in schools by 
physiological maturity; medical supervision 
of schools; and the growing general appre- 
ciation of "God's out-of-doors." 

The wise ones of the race have always highly 
appreciated bodily health and vigor. To 
primitive man bodily strength was a neces- 
sity for survival. The Greek ideal of Plato 
was the beautiful soul in the beautiful body. 
The poet Juvenal, with characteristic Roman 
emphasis, expresses the ideal as mens sana in 
corpore sano. The knights of the mediaeval 
period remembered the claims of the body, 
though the priests largely forgot those claims. 
John Locke, English psychologist and physi- 
cian, began his Thoughts Concerning Educa- 
tion in 1692 by looking back to Juvenal as 
follows (retaining his capitals) : 

A sound Mind in a sound Body, is a short, but full 
Description of a happy State in this World. He that 
has these two, has little more to wish for; and he that 
wants either of them, will be but little the better for 
anything else. Men's Happiness or Misery is most part 
of their own making. He whose Mind directs not 
wisely, will never take the right Way; and he whose 
Body is crazy and feeble, will never be able to advance 
in it. 



Likewise Carlyle in his famous Edinburgh 
rectorial address, given in 1866, when at the 

28 



IDEALS OF COMPLETE LIVING 

age of seventy his gifts were finally recognized 
by his fellow countrymen, said : 

Finally, I have one advice to give you which is prac- carlyle Quoted 
tically of very great importance. You are to consider 
throughout, much more than is done at present, and 
what would have been a very great thing for me if 
I had been able to consider, that health is a thing 
to be attended to continually, that you are to regard 
it as the highest of all temporal things. There is no 
kind of achievement you could make in the world that 
is equal to perfect health. What to it are nuggets or 
millions? 

2. The Volitional Ideal, Including Voca- 
tional and Social. Turning to the mental side 
of existence and recalling its three main ele- 
ments, what is the ideal for the human will? 
Here the sage of Konigsberg, Immanuel Kant, 
will help us. He begins his First Section of 
the Metaphysics of Morals, written in 1785, 
with the striking statement : 

Nothing can possibly be conceived in the world, or Kant Quoted 
even out of it, which can be called good without quali- 
fication, except a Good Will. 

A little later occurs this picturesque pas- 
sage: 

Even if it should happen that, owing to special dis- 
favor of fortune, or the niggardly provision of a step- 
motherly nature, this will should wholly lack power to 
accomplish its purpose, if with its greatest effort it 
should yet achieve nothing, and there should remain 
only the good will (not, to be sure, a mere wish, but 

29 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 

the summoning of all means in our power), then, like 
a jewel, it would still shine by its own light, as a thing 
which has its whole value in itself. 



Goodness 



Three Kinds 
of Goodness 



Their Inter- 
dependence 



We may properly deny, I think, the term 
"good" to the will which for any reason wholly 
fails to accomplish its purpose ; still it remains 
true that the ideal of man's volitional being 
is the good will, or, the somewhat vague and 
colorless term "goodness." As the end of the 
bodily functions is to avoid weakness and 
disease and to maintain health, so the end of 
the will is to avoid evil and attain the good. 

There are at least three kinds of goodness 
we may profitably distinguish from each other. 
This distinction will reappear in our later 
discussion of the goodness of Jesus. These 
three are (1) muscular, (2) social, and (3) 
personal. These three uses of the term "good" 
may perhaps be illustrated by the phrases: a 
good mechanic, a good citizen, a good man. A 
good mechanic has skill; a good citizen has a 
developed social sense; a good man has per- 
sonal integrity. Muscular goodness is practi- 
cal; it is skill. Social goodness and personal 
goodness are both moral, the one regarding 
one's neighbor, the other regarding oneself. 

These three kinds of good will should go 
together. Skill enables one to be economically 
independent; social goodness makes one a 

30 



IDEALS OF COMPLETE LIVING 

power that makes for righteousness in one's 
world; personal goodness involves sincerity 
and genuineness and inner uprightness. Lack- 
ing any one of these elements, the good will 
is not complete and fully admirable. Without 
skill, one is dependent; without aggressive 
social righteousness, one is almost a nonentity, 
counting for little in the improvement of 
human society; without personal integrity, 
one is a hypocrite. 

Goodness, then, in this rich, comprehensive, 
forceful, and complex sense is the ideal for the 
human will. The ideal human will is voca- 
tionally skillful, socially righteous, and per- 
sonally upright. These are the highest ex- 
pressions of the activity of human nature. 

3. The Emotional Ideal. After the will, the 
feelings. What is the ideal for the emotional 
development of man? It is not easy to say. 
The emotional life is so complex, and under- 
lies so many rich experiences of man, that it 
is not easy to single out the emotional ideal. 
Perhaps the love of the beautiful would best Beauty 
represent the ideal for the emotional element 
of human nature. It is no accident that the 
terms "lovely" and "beautiful" are synony- 
mous. Love and beauty go together. The 
objects of our affections we tend to idealize 
as beautiful, and beautiful things and persons 

31 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 

tend to call out the emotion of love. Both 
Saint Paul and Henry Drummond have 
eulogized love as the greatest thing in the 
world. The point to be noted is that the object 
we love is regarded as beautiful. So the love 
of beauty will be our third ideal of complete 
living, along with health and goodness. As 
the complete life seeks to eliminate disease 
and evil, so also it seeks to eliminate ugliness, 
both in self and surroundings. 
The Need of Without an appreciation of beauty human 

Beauty life cannot be regarded as complete. It pro- 

vides the necessary balance and offset to the 
practical necessities of life. Through the 
refinement of taste the pleasures of living are 
multiplied, the resources of life are increased. 
Though indispensable to well-rounded life, the 
ideal of beauty has received least independent 
recognition. In this discussion we are putting 
beauty in the region of the absolute ideals for 
human living because it is the true and proper 
satisfaction of the feelings of man, and the 
feelings are as truly elements of human ex- 
perience as acts and ideas. The love of beauty, 
then, is the emotional ideal of man. 

4. The Intellectual Ideal. There remains 
yet to seek the nature of the intellectual ideal. 
What is the ideal object of the knowing func- 
tion? We will the good, we love the beautiful, 

32 



IDEALS OF COMPLETE LIVING 

we know the truth. As we seek to avoid the Truth 
contradictories of the other ideals, so also here 
we seek to avoid both ignorance and error — 
ignorance as the absence of knowledge and 
error as falsity held to be knowledge. We are 
not likely to think lives spent in either igno- 
rance or error are complete. The knowledge 
of the truth is not merely a satisfaction in 
itself, it also has a practical value in guiding 
conduct. 

In order to attain a knowledge of the truth 
we require both experience and instruction, 
both the discerning and the docile mind, both 
the love of truth and the willingness to receive. 

Here, then, we have four of the absolute Four-square 
ideals of human life, namely, health, goodness, mng 
beauty, and truth. This would make life four- 
square. The man with only one of these 
ideals, however good in itself, is leading a 
linear type of life, with two of the ideals he 
is living, as it were, in a plane ; with any three, 
life is triangular at best. Only when body, 
will, emotion, and intellect, each and all, func- 
tion well does man lead the foursquare life. 
Men really want to live completely ; they want 
satisfaction from life. The source of man's 
trouble is that he either does not know where 
real satisfaction is to be found, or, knowing, 
is not ready to meet the conditions. To live 

33 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 

completely is our most complex and difficult 
art. It is the problem of proportional develop- 
ment, of mutually adjusting different absolute 
values. If we think of the foursquare life as 
moving through space, we get cubical living. 

5. The Spiritual Ideal. Is there any fur- 
ther ideal? Can any improvement be made 
on foursquare, or cubical, lives? There is no 
further elementary constituent of human na- 
ture. Provision has been made in ideal form 
for man's body, and for the main functions of 
his soul. Yet one thing is lacking. It is pos- 
sible for the whole man to sense his divine 
relationship, his relationship as a whole but 
finite being to a whole but Infinite Being. No 

God one familiar with the history of religion can 

deny both the fact and the reality of this sense 
of kinship to the embracing All. 

So we have to add yet a fifth ideal to our 
list, the ideal of human life consciously lived 
in communion and union with Divine Life, 
the spiritual ideal. This ideal is God. 

Nature of Please note that the basis for this ideal, 

which is the religious ideal, is no separate 
aspect of human nature but the whole of 
human nature in conscious relationship 
to the Divine. Not through one private 
door exclusively its own, but through all the 
familiar doors of human experience does reli- 

34 



Spirituality 



IDEALS OF COMPLETE LIVING 

gion enter. This fifth ideal is for the whole 
man in his unity, not for man in the phases 
of his being as the others are. The so-called 
spiritual nature of man is not one element of 
his being, like the material, or volitional, or 
emotional, or intellectual ; it is the whole man 
conscious of his Divine Kinship. 

To illustrate. Our enjoyment of health How the Fifth 

. , . . , -. , liii* Ideal Includes 

acquires the spiritual tone when health is the Four 
recognized as the result of conformity to the 
laws of nature which are the laws of God. 
Our goodness becomes spiritual when it is 
recognized that the laws of morality are the 
laws of God. Our appreciation of beauty is 
spiritualized when beauty is traced to its 
origin in the perfection of God manifested in 
the works of nature and man. And our knowl- 
edge of the truth acquires a spiritual value 
when such knowledge is viewed as the re- 
thinking of the thoughts of God. Thus our 
fifth ideal of God is the unifying and inspiring 
ideal of all. The finite here feels its oneness 
with the infinite, not in a static but in a func- 
tional, growing sense. The foursquare life is 
here surrounded by the circle. Cubical living 
approaches spherical living. The sphere is 
our final symbol of complete living, as Froebel 
taught with his ball. 

The meaning of the term "spirituality," 

35 






JESUS— OUR STANDARD 

often vaguely conceived, is realizing God's 
presence. This is done definitely by means of 
health, goodness, beauty, and truth, when 
these are recognized as divine values, to be 
appropriated by oneself and spread among 
others. Through living for the great ends or 
ideals of existence, one practically realizes 
the Divine Presence. This is real spirituality. 
Reflection will probably convince us that these 
values are not merely appropriated by man 
but are also inspired by God. 

A few years ago at a commencement meet- 
ing of the Harvard Alumni Association, Jus- 
tice Oliver Wendell Holmes, representing the 
class of '61, in a short address that sparkles 
like a gem, used this language : 

justice Man is born a predestined idealist, for he is born to 

Holmes ac t. To act is to affirm the worth of an end; to persist 

in affirming the worth of an end is to make an ideal. 
The stern experience of our youth confirmed the destiny 
of fate; it left us feeling through life that pleasures 
do not make happiness, and that the root at once of joy 
and beauty is to put out all one's powers to a great end. 

The following characteristic letter 1 of a boy 
who is probably old for his years and the 
splendid reply of Dr. Frank Crane would help 
any one realize the true nature of spirituality : 

1 This letter and reply were printed in the New York 
Globe, February 13, 1916, and were later circulated by 
the Boys' Division of the Y. M. C. A. 

36 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 

To which Dr. Crane replied: 

Yes, my boy, there is a God. You cannot see or hear 
Him, but I will tell you how you can feel Him. 

Did you ever lie, or cheat, or steal, or treat a smaller 
boy oruelly, or be a coward when you should have been 
brave? If so, you have felt a hurt inside your mind, a 
miserable feeling in your heart, as if you were sick at 
your stomach, or as if you had struck your finger with 
a hammer. It is God that so makes you hurt. 

Have you ever wanted to do something mean, or 
nasty, and resisted the desire, put it away from you, 
and acted honestly and fair; and have you not noticed 
then a good feeling, a sense of inner pride and satis- 
faction and manhood? It is God that gives you this 
good feeling when you play the man. 

Have you ever looked up at the sky at night and 
remembering what you have been told about the vast 
distances of the stars, and that they are worlds like 
ours moving through space as fast as cannon balls, have 
you never had a feeling of wonder, of how great and 
majestic the universe is, and you but a tiny mite in 
it all? That feeling of wonder and awe comes from 
God. A very wise man, Carlyle, said that worship is 
wonder; so that when you see anything that makes 
you wonder because of its greatness or beauty or mys- 
tery, you are really worshiping God, whether the object 
be the ocean, the mountain, or a good man or woman. 

It is not the police that protect our lives, my boy. 
Only a few wicked men come into conflict with the 
policemen. But there is something that holds every 
man back from cruelty and uncleanness, that stays 
the murderer's arm and causes many a woman to 
drown herself rather than be vile. That something is 
God. He watches over us all and neither slumbers nor 
sleeps. 

None of us understand why He allows so many people 
to do wrong, but we feel that there is something in 

38 



IDEALS OF COMPLETE LIVING 

every human breast that makes wrongdoing bring 
misery every time. 

The most important thing for you to believe about 
God is that He is not your enemy, and He is not watch- 
ing you like a detective to punish you, but that He is 
your friend, that He is loving and serving you ^every 
minute of your life. 

Listen to your heart beating, as you lie awake in 
bed. All night while you are unconscious something 
is making your heart beat thus, and your lungs breathe, 
and attending to all the functions of your body. That 
is God. Nobody has ever yet found a better name. 

It is God who rolls the stars in the heavens, who 
lifts the sun up in the morning, and guides the moon 
at night; who causes the wheat and corn, the trees and 
flowers to grow; who brings the birds back from the 
south in the spring; who makes the little lambs frolic 
and the kittens play; who makes children happy and 
grown people kind and patient. 

Wherever you find LIFE and GOODNESS and 
GREATNESS you may know God is there. 

So, my boy, whether your folks are Hebrew or Chris- 
tian, Buddhist or Mohammedan, even if they are 
"nothing at all," you may rest assured that they will 
not object to your believing what I have here told you; 
and you may be sure also that to believe in God and 
to try to feel and follow Him will do more than any- 
thing else in the world to make you an honest, happy 
and brave man, to make those who love you glad be- 
cause of you, and to make all the world respect and 
trust you. 




Ytcu^ 




39 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 



At this point a summarizing diagram might 
help us, showing the elements of human na- 
ture on the one hand and the corresponding 
ideals of complete living on the other. 



Complete Living 
Human Nature 



Ideals 



Man 



' Body Physical 
' Volitional 



1. Health 



[Soul \ 



Emotional 
b Intellectual 



2. Goodness 

(1) Skill 

(2) Social J-5. God 

(3) Moral 

3. Beauty 

4. Truth 



V. Hierarchy of the Ideals 

Could we arrange these five ideals on a 
scale of values? Such an arrangement would 
constitute a hierarchy of the ideals. Without 
doubt the ideal of God would come first in 
importance, as most comprehensive and as 
meaning most for life. Next, perhaps, the 
ideal of goodness, based on the primary soul 
function of activity, and enabling the indi- 
vidual to survive worthily. Between beauty 
and truth it is difficult to choose for third 
place, the one based on love and the other on 
knowledge. Fortunately, they are compatible 
with each other and the question of their rela- 
tive worth is an abstraction. Most people 
have preferred truth. Finally, health, rela- 

40 



IDEALS OF COMPLETE LIVING 

tively of least value, yet having intrinsic 
worth of its own and conditioning the effec- 
tiveness of the soul's functioning. 

VI. Need of a Personal Concrete Ideal 

A little reflection at this point will indicate 
a vital need not yet supplied in our discus- 
sion. The ideals of health, goodness, beauty, 
and truth are all impersonal, while the ideal 
of God is infinite. We need a standard life 
which shall be personal as God is personal 
and yet finite as health is finite. Such a stand- 
ard life would bring the ideals near to us, con- 
vincing us of their reality and attractiveness. 
The ancient Greeks surpassed the Oriental 
barbarians in moral education because they 
substituted the personal model, Achilles, 
Odysseus, etc., for the impersonal and vague 
maxim. The religions of the world likewise 
have personal founders. So here, we need a 
concrete embodiment in personal form of the 
ideals of complete living to serve as our in- 
spiration, guide, model, leader, and Master. 
This, we believe, we have in Jesus. In the Jesus 
following successive chapters we purpose to 
study how he exemplified in his life and recog- 
nized in his teaching each of the ideals of 
complete living hitherto presented. If our 
belief that he is the fullness of human life 

41 



JESUS— OUE STANDARD 



What Is 
Religion? 



What Is 
Christianity? 



appears to be grounded in reason, then may 
we unhesitatingly accept him as our standard, 
renew our loyalty, and extend our witnessing. 
In the light of our fifth ideal, God, and of 
our standard life, Jesus, we may at this point 
profitably define for ourselves w r hat we mean 
by religion and Christianity. We have seen 
the four ideals based on the elements of human 
nature and the fifth ideal based on the sense 
of relationship of the human and Divine. The 
first four ideals are matters of common ex- 
perience, scientific in character, and unescapa- 
ble. The fifth ideal is won by religion. 

VII. Nature of Religion and Christianity 

What is religion? It is the sense of ideal 
human values as divine. Religion recognizes 
the best things of life as God-given. There is 
no way of access to God known to us except 
through some human value. If we would find 
God, we must find him in human experience 
at its highest levels. 

Different religions find God revealed by 
different means. The Brahman sees God in 
everything; the Buddhists, in Buddha; the 
Parsis, in Zoroaster; the Confucianists, in 
Confucius; the Mohammedan, in Mohammed; 
the Jew in the Law; and the Christian, in 
Jesus. What, then, is Christianity? Essen- 

42 



IDEALS OF COMPLETE LIVING 

tially, it is the sense of Jesus as Divine. It 
recognizes him as the embodiment of ideal 
humanity, as the complete life, as God's idea 
of what a man ought to be, and as such reveal- 
ing God's own nature. Such recognition in- 
volves the control of life by the spirit of Jesus. 
The following symbol of complete living 
may well serve at this point to sum up all our 
preceding discussion. 

VIII. Symbol of Complete Living 
GOD 




There is wonderful suggestiveness in this Meaning of 
symbol. In it we see represented the four- e ym 0l 
square life, encompassed by the Infinite, with 
the Chrismon at the center. The monogram of 
Christ suggests both his office and his cross. 
The circle, without beginning or ending, typi- 

43 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 

fies the Infinite Being. The circle is the limit 
of development of the square, and the center 
of a square inscribed within a circle coincides 
with the center of the circle. So the four- 
square life of man as it endlessly develops 
always approaches God as its limit, though 
never departing from Christ as its center. 
The triangle of "body, mind, and spirit' ' is not 
so good a symbol of the complete life, because 
(1) the term "mind" covers at least three 
ideals and (2) "spirit" is not so much one 
of the constituent elements of man as the 
whole man in Divine relationship. 

Such a symbol might well be hung over 
one's desk as a daily reminder of the complete 
life. Its guidance would suggest to us that 
The Day's an ideal daily program includes communion 
with God, companionship with Christ, the 
service of our fellows, the maintenance of our 
integrity, vocation, the enjoyment of beauty, 
a step forward in the knowledge of truth, and 
right regard for our bodies. By such a plan 
we might well set forth in the morning and 
correct ourselves in the evening. Not that 
the human mind is capable of concentrating 
equally on these several things all the time, 
but that at no time should we be very far from 
any one of them. The domineering one of 
them all is certainly the vocation, and to 

44 



Program 



IDEALS OF COMPLETE LIVING 

prevent it from becoming an usurping tyrant, 
we might well make a special point of not 
failing in any of the others. Have a budget 
covering your time as well as your money. 

The symbol makes Christ the central em- 
bodiment of the ideals of complete living. By 
what right? The following chapters will try 
to show, as in succession they present each of 
the five ideals of complete living as exempli- 
fied in the life, and recognized in the teaching, 
of Jesus. 



45 



CHAPTER II 



THE PHYSIQUE OF JESUS 



"We test our lives by Thine." 

— Whittier. 



CHAPTER II 
THE PHYSIQUE OF JESUS 

I. The Question of His Heredity 

Most people in our day acknowledge the 
fact and the importance of heredity, though 
a few reject the idea for various reasons. The 
ancient Jews did not emphasize physiological 
heredity, but they did care a great deal for 
the political and religious significance of 
ancestral kinship. To be a "son of Abraham" 
was fraught with racial and religious signifi- 
cance; to be the "son of David" was the choice 
r61e reserved for the deliverer who should 
come, the Messiah, who also as heir of David 
should sit on his throne. Jesus himself sub- 
ordinated physiological and racial heredity to 
spiritual relationship. He said that God 
could raise up sons to Abraham from the 
stones (Matt. 3. 9), and that whoever did the 
will of his heavenly Father was his mother, 
brother, and sister (Mark 3. 35), though he 
recognized that some were born eunuchs 
( Matt. 19. 12 ) . As elsewhere, so in the matter 

49 



of Jesus 



JESUS— OUK STANDARD 

of heredity, Jesus acknowledged the physical 
but subordinated it to the spiritual. 
The Heredity Two of the evangelists, Matthew and Luke, 
pay especial attention to the genealogy of 
Jesus. Matthew wrote his Gospel for the 
Jews. In his genealogy he consequently pre- 
sents him as the son of David and the son of 
Abraham (Matt. 1.1). Luke wrote to make 
Jesus acceptable to all men; consequently, in 
his genealogy he presents him not only as the 
Son of David and Abraham, but also as "the 
son of Adam, the son of God" (Luke 3. 38). 
Thus Luke presents Jesus as one not merely 
with the Hebrew but also with the human 
race. Combining the two accounts, we may 
say that Matthew and Luke present the Da- 
vidic, Abrahamic, human, and divine descent 
of Jesus for the religious purpose of winning 
allegiance to him from Jew and Gentile alike. 
In each case the descent is traced through 
Joseph. The problem of the agreement in 
details of the two genealogies need not detain 
us. We conclude that the heredity of Jesus is 
presented as the best the evangelists knew. 
Nothing in the later life of Jesus forbids our 
thinking that Jesus was physically well born. 
Joseph is presented as a righteous and con- 
siderate man and Mary as a pious and medi- 
tative woman. 

50 



THE PHYSIQUE OF JESUS 

The conclusion that the heredity of Jesus Heredity of 
was good is further supported by the accounts stories^f the 
of the miraculous conception of Jesus. It is ^b^ 
interesting that the same two evangelists 
alone report anything miraculous in the birth 
of Jesus, as though they were seeking an, 
origin in heredity great enough to explain 
Jesus. It is significant to recall in this con- 
nection that Luke was a physician. We con- 
clude from the genealogies, the character of 
Joseph and Mary, the birth-stories, and the 
later life of Jesus that his physical heredity 
was good, though we note that this kind of 
heredity was not emphasized by the Jews and 
that Jesus himself never based any claim for 
acceptance on either his physical kinship to 
David or his miraculous birth. 

As an infant Jesus was circumcised the 
eighth day. After thirty-three days the pre- 
sentation took place in the temple, which in- 
cluded the rites of purification of Mary and 
the redemption of the first-born. J. S. Clemens 
says, 1 "In our Lord's day a rabbinical regula- 
tion had added to the Mosaic rule the condi- 
tion that the child thus presented should be 
free from physical defect and blemish." 
Though Jesus himself later never emphasized 

1 Art, "Infancy," in Dictionary of Cnrist and the 
Gospel, 

51 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 

it, we must regard his physical heredity as 
good, and good heredity is one qualification 
of the modern acceptable standard of physical 
life. 

II. The Childhood of Jesus 

What was the physical childhood of Jesus 
like? Our imagination can well picture him 
as gradually growing and becoming strong. 
The physician's account of him before he was 
twelve runs : "And the child grew, and became 
strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the 
grace of God was upon him" (Luke 2. 40). 
Being subject to his parents (Luke 2. 51), he 
would naturally help Joseph in the carpenter's 
shop. Since at twelve the doctors in Jeru- 
salem were "astonished at his understanding 
and answers" (Luke 2. 47), he must have 
carefully read the Old Testament at least 
along with other boyhood interests. This was 
how he became "full of wisdom." This is the 
small but suggestive extent of our knowledge 
of the childhood of Jesus based on the gospel 
narrative — a childhood with progressive 
stages, each showing qualities suitable to it- 
self. 
The Apocryphal In contrast with this picture of a normally 
child jeUls developing human childhood, the apocryphal 
Gospels assign him miraculous knowledge and 

52 



THE PHYSIQUE OF JESUS 

power. For instance, "The First Gospel of 
the Infancy of Jesus Christ" relates that 
"Jesus spake even when he was in his cradle, 
and said to his mother : Mary, I am Jesus the 
Son of God, that Word, which thou didst 
bring forth according to the declaration of the 
angel Gabriel to thee, and my Father hath 
sent me for the salvation of the world" (1. 2, 
3). Another instance from the same apocry- 
phal gospel: "And when the Lord Jesus was 
seven years of age, he was on a certain day 
with other boys, his companions, about the 
same age, who, when they were at play, made 
clay into several shapes, namely, asses, oxen, 
birds, and other figures, each boasting of his 
work, and endeavoring to excel the rest. 
Then the Lord Jesus said to the boys, I will 
command these figures which I have made to 
walk. And immediately they moved; and 
when he commanded them to return they re- 
turned" (15. 1-5). Some of the other gro- 
tesque narratives of the apocryphal Gospels 
relate how Jesus aided Joseph in his work by 
pulling out the length of beams mistakenly 
cut too short, changing boys into kids and 
back again, carrying fire and water in his 
cloak, curing Simon the Cananaean of snake- 
bite by having the snake suck out the poison 
and then cursing the snake, striking blind and 

53 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 

dead boys who thwarted him in play and then 
on entreaty restoring them, encountering 
rabbis successfully in the knowledge of the 
Torah, and giving instruction to philosophers 
in astronomy, natural science, medicine, 
"physics and metaphysics, hyperphysics and 
hypophysics." A childhood of this kind strikes 
us as unreal, mythical, impossible, and neither 
so natural, so attractive, so human, nor so 
truly divine as that which the accepted evan- 
gelists suggest, who are presenting to us not 
a biography but the Gospel of Jesus. 
Did jesus Did Jesus play as a boy? Let us see. He 

was the oldest of seven children. (By some 
these children are regarded as his cousins; 
by others as the children of Joseph by a 
former marriage; by still others as Mary's 
younger children. ) There were four "brothers" 
and at least two "sisters." His brothers were 
named James, Joseph, Simon, and Judah. In 
true Oriental fashion his sisters' names are 
not recorded (Matt. 13. 55). The houses in 
Nazareth were all small. There was close 
association with the children of the family, 
even with the neighbors' children. We may 
naturally suppose that Jesus played with his 
younger brothers and sisters about the house, 
and also that he played with the children of 
the village in the market place, At least we 

54 



THE PHYSIQUE OF JESUS 

may infer this much from two things : children 
came to him when a man as though he loved 
and understood them, and this they would 
hardly have done in case as a boy his play 
instinct had remained undeveloped. Besides, 
hfc later compared the men of his generation 
to children sitting in the public square and 
calling out to one another: "We have piped 
unto you and ye have not danced: we have 
mourned to you and ye have not wept" (Luke 
7. 32), because they, so to speak, would not 
play funeral with John the Baptist, nor yet 
wedding with him. Such an illustration may 
well have been not merely a matter of observa- 
tion but a memory with him. 

His later preaching carries an open-air Familiar with 
atmosphere. His illustrations are frequently 
drawn from the fowls of the air, the fish, the 
fields, the farmer's life. These suggest inti- 
mate familiarity with nature, dating, no 
doubt, from boyhood days spent in rambling 
over the hills about Nazareth. 

III. The Adolescence of Jesus 

At twelve years of age Jesus was an adoles- 
cent, becoming a "Son of the Law," that is, 
under obligation to keep the Mosaic law, mak- 
ing perhaps his first journey to Jerusalem 
with his parents to celebrate the feast of the 

55 



Nature 



JESUS— OUK STANDAKD 

passover, and already recognizing God as 
Father, though Joseph and Mary did not un- 
derstand his words. His body at twelve, as is 
the case in the Orient, was more mature than 
that of the average boy in colder climates. 
The things he said in the temple were indeed 
remarkable, yet suitable to his age and pre- 
vious development. Nothing was said or done 
contrary to our thought of true boyhood. The 
conservative critic, George Farmer, says : "An 
exegetical study of Luke 2. 40-52 shows a 
genuine human development of Christ in His 
boyhood. Body, soul, and spirit made regu- 
lar progress." 1 Though his development and 
spiritual insight were unusual and remark- 
able, there is nothing to indicate that his par- 
ents or neighbors regarded him as a prodigy. 
His parents did not know where to look for 
him at once, and his neighbors were later sur- 
prised and offended at his unusual claims. 
Mary pondered all these things in her heart. 

IV. The Growth of the Silent Years 

Following twelve, his physical growth still 
continued. "And Jesus increased in wisdom 
and stature, and in favor with God and man" 
(Luke 2. 52). This passage from the physi- 

1 Art, "Boyhood of Jesus," in "Dictionary of Christ 
and the Gospel," vol. i., New York, 1911. 

56 



THE PHYSIQUE OF JESUS 

cian's account covers the eighteen "silent 
years" until Jesus was about thirty, and began 
to teach publicly. His physical growth — his 
increase in stature — receives special mention. 
Parallel to this physical growth, there was an 
intellectual and moral growth — increase in 
wisdom; also a spiritual growth — increase in 
favor with God; and also a social growth — 
increase in favor with man. How were these 
eighteen years spent? They are such a rebuke 
to those who hurry into life's work. On the 
physical side they were spent in acquiring 
and following a vocation. 

It was customary for a Jewish boy to learn Life m the 
the trade of his father. Jesus was always xnSe**' 
obedient to Mary and Joseph (Luke 2. 51). 
Now, Joseph was the only, or the best-known, 
carpenter of the village of Nazareth. This 
means that Jesus was the companion of his 
father as he worked in the shop or about the 
village. And in time Joseph died, just when 
we do not know, and Jesus became the head 
of the family and the village carpenter in the 
place of Joseph. His life in the open, using 
the tools of his trade, must have put the glow 
of health in his cheek and muscle in his arm. 
Justin Martyr, one of the Greek Fathers of 
the church, who was probably beheaded in 
the year 167 in Rome under the persecutions 

57 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 

of the Stoic emperor, Marcus Aurelius, says 
that Jesus "when amongst men, worked as a 
carpenter, making ploughs and yokes, thus 
teaching the marks of righteousness, and com- 
mending an active life." This statement inter, 
estingly confirms the question of the fellow 
countrymen of Jesus, who were offended at 
him: "Is not this the carpenter?" (Mark 
6. 3. ) So as a carpenter he labored on at the 
bench, thinking no doubt as he toiled, until 
he was about thirty years of age. It was dur- 
ing these years that Jesus perhaps decided 
that in view of future possibilities it was not 
expedient for him to marry, 
carpenter and When Jesus became a public teacher he 
recognized that his lowly station among them 
as a carpenter kept his fellow citizens from ac- 
cepting his message. "No doubt you will repeat 
to me this proverb, 'Doctor, cure yourself " 
(Luke 4. 23). They seem to have had the 
view expressed in one of the apocryphal books 
(Ecclesiasticus 37. 24-34) that certain classes 
in society shall not "declare instruction and 
judgment, and where parables are they shall 
not be found" (v. 33). The classes enumer- 
ated include the plowman, "every artificer 
[compare 'carpenter'] and workmaster" 
(v. 27), the smith, and the potter. All these 
were regarded as too much occupied to become 

58 



Rabbi 



THE PHYSIQUE OF JESUS 

wise, as the leisurely scribes. So the Naza- 
renes were offended at the carpenter become 
a rabbi. 

V. Influence of His Trade on His Teaching 

But Jesus never apologized for having been 
a carpenter. He was not ashamed of it. On 
the contrary, there are intimations that his 
teachings contain reminiscences of his earlier 
occupation. He knew from experience about 
the corner stone that the builders reject, about 
laying the foundations of one's house on a 
rock and on the sand, about the beam and the 
splinter, and about the necessity of counting 
the cost, making an estimate, before building 
a tower. He would build his church upon 
the rock of Peter's faith. Once he asked, "For 
if they do these things in a green tree, what 
shall be done in the dry?" (Luke 23. 31.) 
His enemies thought he claimed to be able to 
rebuild the temple in three days. And one 
of the recently discovered "sayings of Jesus" 
runs, "Cleave the wood and there you will find 
me." It was one of the ironies of his life that 
his body was finally nailed to a wooden beam. 

The years Jesus spent as a carpenter not His First 
only helped to give him a virile body; they 
were also his first real sermon on the dignity 
of labor, on the value of a vocation, on the 

59 



JESUS—OUR STANDARD 

worth of work. We must recur to this point 
later in considering the goodness of Jesus as 
skill. The Essenes, an ascetic religious sect 
of the time of Jesus, withdrew from human 
society and temporal affairs. Not so Jesus. 
By entering into the business of life he more 
truly deserved the title by which he preferred 
to designate himself — "the Son of man." The 
quaint poem following by Catherine C. Liddell 
will illustrate this point: 

JESUS, THE CARPENTER 

" 'Isn't this Joseph's son?' — ay, it is he, 
Joseph the carpenter — same trade as me; 
I thought as I'd find it — I knew it was here — 
But my sight's getting queer. 

"I don't know right where as his shed must ha' stood, 
But often, as I've been a-planing my wood, 
I've took off my hat, just with thinking of he 
At the same work as me. 

"He warn't that set up that he couldn't stoop down 
And work in the country for folks in the town; 
And I'll warrant he felt a bit pride, like I've done, 
At a good job begun. 

"The parson he knows that I'll not make too free; 
But on Sunday I feels as pleased as can be, 
When I wears my clean smock, and sits in a pew, 
And has taught a few. 

"I think of as how not the parson hissen, 
As is teacher and father and shepherd o' men — 
Not he knows as much of the Lord in that shed, 
Where he earned his own bread. 

60 






THE PHYSIQUE OF JESUS 

"And when I goes home to my missus, says she, 
'Are ye wanting your key?' 

For she knows my queer ways, and my love for the shed 
(We've been forty years wed). 

"So I comes right away by mysen, with the book, 
And I turns the old pages and has a good look 
For the text as I've found, as tells me as he 
Were the same trade as me. 

"Why don't I mark it? Ah, many say so; 
But I think I'd as lief, with your leaves, let it go; 
It do seem that nice when I fall on it sudden — 
Unexpected, you know!" 

VI. His Appearance 

How did Jesus appeal at the age of thirty? 
We do not know. No authentic portrait of 
him has come down to us. The early Chris- 
tians disliked images and were afraid of 
image-worship. In this respect they were like 
the earlier Hebrews and the later Moham- 
medans. The early Christian Fathers, influ- 
enced by Old Testament passages, divided 
into two schools on the question. Some said 
he had "no form nor comeliness" (Isa. 53. 2) ; 
among these were Justin Martyr, Clement of 
Alexandria, and Tertullian. Others said he 
was "fairest among ten thousand" ; among 
these were Origen, Saint Augustine, Saint 
Ambrose, Saint Chrysostom. There was a 
fable to the effect that Christ had sent to 

61 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 

Abgar, king of Edessa, a portrait of himself 
by Thaddeus. Many legends gathered about 
Saint Veronica and the imprint of the face 
of Jesus which she was said to have received 
on a napkin the morning of the crucifixion as 
she wiped the bloody sweat from his brow. 
No description of his appearance that has 
come down to us has authentic value, though 
the type with which the artists have made us 
familiar is largely based on these descriptions. 
The most famous and beautiful of these pur- 
ports to have been written by "Lentulus, 
President of the people of Jerusalem," to the 
Roman Senate, and runs as follows : 

There has appeared in our times a man of tall stature, 
beautiful, with a venerable countenance, which they who 
look on it can both love and fear. His hair is waving 
and crisp, somewhat wine-colored, and glittering as it 
flows down over his shoulders, with a parting in the 
middle after the manner of the Nazarenes. His brow 
is smooth and most serene; his face is without any 
spot or wrinkle, and glows with a delicate flush. His 
nose and mouth are of faultless contour; the beard is 
abundant, and hazel-colored, like his hair, not long 
but forked. His eyes are prominent, brilliant, and 
change their color. In denunciation he is terrible; in 
admonition, calm and loving, cheerful, but with unim- 
paired dignity. He has never been seen to laugh, but 
oftentimes to weep. His hands and his limbs are beauti- 
ful to look upon. In speech he is grave, reserved, 
modest; and he is fair among the children of men. 

Perhaps it is best that we do not know just 

62 



THE PHYSIQUE OP JESUS 

how Jesus looked, much as we would desire 
to know. Every follower of Jesus may now 
form his own image of how he appeared, and 
so no one be disappointed. Those artists who 
have presented the figure of Jesus to us in 
beauty and majesty have probably been right, 
for his body doubtless matched the soul within. 

If we leave tradition and speculation aside, 
and turn to the gospel records themselves, we 
find some unintentional hints about his per- 
sonal appearance. There was apparently 
nothing in his height or garments to distin- 
guish him from others. Judas had to kiss him 
to identify him. He wore an inner garment 
without seam and a loose outer one, probably 
tied with a cord about the waist. It had 
tassels on the four corners, one of which the 
woman with the issue of blood and other sick 
people touched and were healed. He wore 
sandals of leather on his feet, necessary on 
account of the heat and roughness of the 
ground, which were removed on entering a 
house. He appears to have had no physical 
weakness or peculiarity, as did Saint Paul. 
In the last three years of his life he probably 
aged rapidly, as the Jews said to him : "Thou 
art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen 
Abraham ?" (John 8. 57). 

As no one looks at the sun, yet every one ms Eye 

63 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 

sees by means of the sun, so in the Gospels 
the evangelists do not permit us to see Christ 
as he physically was, yet he is the master light 
of all their seeing. What his eye was like we 
can only judge from the use he made of it. 

In thanksgiving and prayer he lifted his eyes 
toward heaven on feeding the five thousand, 
in healing the deaf and dumb man, at the 
grave of Lazarus, and in "the High-Priestly 
prayer" of John 17. It was with an observant 
and comprehensive look that he beheld how 
the people cast money into the treasury, that 
he looked round about upon all things in the 
temple before cleansing it the following day, 
and that he saw Zacchaeus in the tree. He 
used his eye to support his spoken word in 
defining who were his mother and brethren, 
in warning against the love of riches, in teach- 
ing that all things are possible with God, in 
beginning the Sermon on the Mount, and in 
conferring on Peter his new name. The ex- 
pression of his eyes likewise betokened certain 
emotions, as when with reproach he beheld 
the chief priests and scribes on questioning 
them concerning the rejected corner stone, 
when again with "that look of sovran love 
and sovran pain" he sent the denying Peter 
out into the darkness to weep bitterly, when he 
looked with love on the moral young man, when 

64 



THE PHYSIQUE OF JESUS 

with anger he looked round about on those 
watching to see whether he would heal a man 
with a shrunken arm on the Sabbath day, and 
with sorrow when he beheld and wept over the 
city. The father of the maniac boy would have 
Jesus look on his son with pity. So Jesus 
must have had a speaking eye, capable of 
flashing indignation, administering reproach, 
and warning with the tender light of love. 
He himself described the eye as the light of 
the body, and taught that the evil and offend- 
ing eye makes the whole body dark, is caused 
by the heart, and should be plucked out. 

Jesus must have had a pleasing voice, re- His voice 
vealing his personality. The common people 
heard him gladly, though they did not always 
understand his parables. As his teaching was 
done mainly in the open, his voice could prob- 
ably carry well. It naturally would do so 
when he spoke from a boat on the lake to the 
multitude on the shore. Mary, mistaking him 
for the gardener, recognized him when he pro- 
nounced her name. Jesus said the sheep fol- 
low the good shepherd because they know his 
voice, and that those which are of the truth 
hear his voice. Matthew saw in the gentle 
words of Jesus the fulfillment of the prophecy 
of Isaiah that the Servant of Jehovah would 
not wrangle or raise his voice. Yet it was a 

65 




JESUS— OUR STANDARD 

voice that John said the dead would some time 
hear. It was with a loud cry of agony that 
Jesus yielded up his spirit on the cross. 
His Hands The reported letter of Lentulus says, "His 

hands and his limbs are beautiful to look 
upon." We do not know, of course, what his 
hands were like ; we know only what they did, 
just as in the case of his eyes. Though callous 
doubtless from the long use of tools, his hands 
were gently laid on the children brought by 
their mothers to be blessed by him; at times 
he would take the children in his arms. Like- 
wise gently and reassuringly he touched the 
frightened disciples after the transfiguration. 
It was with a supporting hand that Jesus took 
hold of the doubting and sinking Peter. With 
a touch he stayed the moving bier of the widow 
of Nain's son. His touch was thus a part of 
his ministry. This is even more evident in the 
many cases of his healing touch. Thus, simple 
touch formed part of the healing process of 
a leper, a fever patient, the blind, and Mal- 
chus, whose ear Peter had severed. With a 
stronger grasp of the hands he healed one deaf 
and dumb, the blind man of Bethsaida, the 
bowed woman, the epileptic boy, and "a few 
sick folk" (Mark 6. 5). And likewise with 
firm grasp the dead daughter of Jairus he 
took by the hand. When Jesus claimed his 

66 



THE PHYSIQUE OF JESUS 

disciples as his mother and brethren, he 
stretched forth his hand toward them. And 
the ascending Jesus lifted up his hands and 
blessed his disciples. 

VII. His Body the Medium of Emotions 

The body of Jesus reflected in its movements 
the emotions of his soul. He sighed, perhaps 
at the weakness of faith, in healing the deaf 
stammerer (Mark 7. 34). He sighed deeply 
at the demand of the Pharisees for a sign 
(Mark 8. 12). In modesty, sympathy, and 
indignation before the sinful woman and her 
accusers, he stooped and wrote in the dust. 
At the grave of Lazarus he groaned, shud- 
dered, and wept. Again he we,pt over Jeru- 
salem. Again he shuddered at the thought of 
the betrayal (John 13. 21). The usual custom 
was in teaching to sit and in praying to stand. 
Jesus sat to teach and probably stood to pray, 
except in Gethsemane, where in deep distress 
he knelt, according to Luke, and fell prostrate, 
according to Matthew and Mark. Thus his 
body was the responsive medium of emotional 
expression. 

VIII. His Commanding Presence 

There are several indications that Jesus had 
a commanding presence. The mob in his home 

67 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 

town, infuriated at his words, had hurried 
him outside the village to the brow of the hill 
to throw him down the cliff, but "He passing 
through the midst of them went his way," his 
time for self-surrender not having yet come. 
Once on the road going up to Jerusalem 
with a company including the twelve, Jesus 
walked on ahead with such a gait and de- 
meanor that "they were amazed and as they 
followed, they were afraid" (Mark 10. 32). 
Once, or it may have been twice, he cleansed 
the temple. Finding in the house of prayer 
money-changers, and dealers in cattle, sheep, 
and pigeons, making a double profit out of 
those who came from a distance to worship, 
"He plaited a whip of rushes," drove the sheep 
and bullocks out of the temple, upset the small 
coin of the brokers, and overturned their 
tables. Here were both physical and moral 
force, and the principal men of the people 
were afraid of him. Even the band of soldiers 
from the chief priests, coming to take him in 
the garden under the leadership of Judas, 
when he took the initiative and declared 
himself unto them, "went backward and 
fell to the ground," no doubt affrighted by 
his commanding presence and the look of 
victory on his face revealed by the flickering 
torches. 

68 



THE PHYSIQUE OF JESUS 

IX. Fatigue, Hunger, and Thirst 

There is no indication that Jesus was unable 
to carry through any of his plans because of 
illness. Yet his journey through Samaria was 
fatiguing, and he was resting at Jacob's Well 
while his disciples were gone into the city to 
buy meat, that is, food. Likewise once he, 
with his disciples, after they had been too 
busy to eat (Mark 6. 31), rested in a desert 
place, or tried to do so, until they were found 
by the people. In the wilderness of tempta- 
tion after his long fast a realizing sense of 
his hunger came over him, and the first 
temptation was addressed to his physical 
appetite. At Jacob's Well his disciples solicit- 
ously urged food upon him, though he had 
meat to eat, spiritual refreshment of soul, of 
which they knew not. He was hungry too 
when he came looking for fruit on the barren 
fig tree, probably after having spent the night 
in the open. His disciples satisfied their hun- 
ger in the cornfield even on the Sabbath day, 
being justified by him. He likewise made 
spiritual application of the pangs of hunger 
in his beatitude on hungering after righteous- 
ness. In contrast he pronounced woe on the 
full, for they should hunger (Luke 6. 25). 
Himself he likened to the bread of life, and 
of him the "Magnificat" says, "The hungry 

69 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 

he hath filled with good things." It is evident 
that Jesus knew what physical hunger was 
and that he made spiritual use of this uni- 
versal element in human experience. That he 
had the sensations of thirst we may also con- 
clude from his asking drink of the woman of 
Samaria, and his cry from the cross, "I thirst." 
It was natural that he should thirst on the 
journey by foot from Judaea to Galilee, and 
most natural that he should thirst intensely 
after hanging wounded on the cross for six 
hours. No doubt he received a cup of cold 
water from the Samaritan woman. Though 
he refused the soporific on the cross, prefer- 
ring to meet death with unclouded mind, he 
did accept the proffered vinegar from a com- 
passionate soldier. His experience of thirst 
gives reality to his teaching of the Judgment, 
"I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink," to his 
teaching that spiritual thirst is slaked by 
belief in him, to his invitation to come to him 
and drink, and to his saying that his blood is 
drink indeed. 

X. His Strength of Body 

The body of Jesus was strong. For thirty 
years it had been well kept and exercised. 
It was able to endure the fast of forty days 
in the wilderness during the temptations. At 

70 



THE PHYSIQUE OF JESUS 

the same time lie took care of himself among 
"the wild beasts." During the three years of 
his public teaching he walked a great deal, 
riding, we may suppose, only on Palm Sunday. 
When night overtook him, he with the dis- 
ciples might sleep in the open, as he said : "The 
Son of man hath not where to lay his head." 
He had a boat at his disposal during the 
Galilsean ministry (Mark 4. 36, 6. 32), which 
at least twice he used as a pulpit. Appar- 
ently, he could sleep easily, wherever he was, 
when the opportunity came; at least he fell 
soundly asleep, requiring to be awakened, on 
the cushion for a pillow in the stern of the 
boat during a storm on the lake which put 
his disciples, though some of them were fisher- 
men, in a panic of fear. He seems not to have 
been in bondage to sleep; at least he spent 
some nights before heavy days in prayer and 
meditation on the mountainside. But he pre- 
ferred the quiet of Bethany to the noise of 
Jerusalem at night. 

He was not afraid to touch fever and lep- 
rous patients, as we have seen, though others 
were forbidden to come near a leper. He is 
reported to have had such virtue in his body 
that a sick woman touching but the tassel of 
his cloak in faith was cured. That strong 
body, after a sleepless night of scourging, 

71 



JESUS— OUK STANDAKD 

mockery, and misunderstanding, was able to 
carry his own heavy cross out of the city and 
a part of the way toward the Place of a Skull, 
until finally he fell under its weight and was 
relieved by Simon the Cyrensean. It is pos- 
sible that after falling he required bodily 
support on the way to Golgotha (Mark 15. 
22). 

On three separate occasions he had pre- 
dicted his certain death, not having the sol- 
dier's chance of escape in battle, yet he did 
not falter or quail, though it cost him bloody 
sweat in Gethsemane. In the consciousness 
of strength, both physical and spiritual, he 
said: "I lay down my life that I might take 
it again. ... No man taketh it from me, but 
I lay it down myself." 
Endurance on After all the strain through which he had 
been, both physical and mental, it is not sur- 
prising that he did not survive the thieves 
on the cross. For six hours, however, he 
endured the exquisite agony of a broken body 
suspended from its own wounds in hands and 
feet. At the outset he refused the anaesthetic 
of wine and gall offered him by the four sol- 
diers, and officially provided for those cruci- 
fied; he had said at the Last Supper that 
henceforth he would not drink wine until he 
drank it new in his Father's kingdom. So 

72 



THE PHYSIQUE OF JESUS 

he met death with full consciousness. At the 
end, in the tormenting thirst of a wounded 
man, he took the vinegar from the sponge of 
the extended hyssop reed of a compassionate 
soldier. He had declined the legally proffered 
narcotic; he accepted the voluntarily offered 
refreshment. With a loud cry, as his heart 
literally broke — for that is the meaning of the 
issue of "blood and water" from his side 
pierced by the soldier — and his head dropped 
on his breast, he gave up his spirit. 

XI. The Instincts of Jesus 

Such was the physical death of the strong 
body of Jesus. It was a body endowed with 
all the human instincts, showing upon occa- 
sion self-preservation, indignation, hunger, 
sociability, play, sympathy, chivalry, wonder, 
self-abasement, gregariousness, communica- 
tiveness, secretiveness ("I go not up yet to 
this feast") and self-assertion. When Jesus 
defended the spirit behind the letter of the 
seventh commandment, he knew very well 
what he was saying. The range and quality 
of his imagination, as well as his fondness 
for and attractiveness to women, show him 
possessed of manhood. Without the full en- 
dowment of human instincts, he would not 
have felt some of the temptations common to 

73 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 

man. The emotions he felt, the words he 
spoke, the things he did, all indicate he was 
not dispossessed of any of the instincts of man. 
It would seem at the outset futile to speak of 
the instincts of Jesus, but, when we remember 
deeds and emotions reveal instincts, there is 
a clue. 

XII. The Normality of His Physique 

The body of Jesus appears to have been just 
normal, avoiding the two extremes of asceti- 
cism and athleticism. Jesus was no ascetic, as 
was John the Baptist, subjecting the body to 
discipline for the sake of the soul; rather 
Jesus expressly contrasted himself with John 
the Baptist, "who came neither eating nor 
drinking." On the other hand, athleticism 
develops the body at the expense of the soul, 
against which Plato had already warned. The 
body of Jesus appears to have been just the 
fit tool of the soul. He likened himself to a 
bridegroom. He did not fast ; he came "eating 
and drinking," and he knew that his enemies 
regarded him as "a gluttonous man and a 
wine-bibber." His body, like frosted glass, 
was the kind through which the spiritual 
could shine, as at the transfiguration, whose 
countenance could glow with spiritual vision. 
Not weak, nor weakened, nor effeminate, was 

74 



THE PHYSIQUE OF JESUS 

the body of Jesus, but strong, masculine, 
powerful, muscular, and controlled. 

XIII. Docetic Views 

Jesus bad a human body. In the light of 
the foregoing, this statement seems like an 
affirmation of the obvious. Yet this fact has 
been denied in the ancient church, though the 
denial was heretical, and in the modern 
church our vague and misty views of Jesus 
do not adequately appreciate his real human 
body. The early sect of the Docetse held that 
Christ's body was either a phantom, or, if 
real, of celestial origin, so that he acted and 
suffered in appearance only, and not in fact. 
In accordance with these views, there was no 
occasion for either a resurrection or an ascen- 
sion of the body. These Docetic views were 
continued by the Manichaeans and the Gnos- 
tics. During the Middle Ages Jesus was con- 
ceived as moving among men as an almost 
exclusively supernatural being. Even after 
the Reformation some of the Anabaptists have 
maintained these views. 

We can understand the origin of these views Their origin 
in the motive to glorify Christ, the working 
out of which almost caused his humanity to 
lapse. Before we are through we may see that 

75 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 



The Human 
Body of Jesus 



his is the greater ultimate glory through his 
having shared fully this bodily existence of 
ours. The human body at its best is also 
divine. To maintain divinity one does not 
have to deny humanity, and, without the body, 
there is no humanity. The church when it 
authoritatively expressed itself has always 
regarded Docetism as unorthodox. These 
views of the unreality of the human body 
obviously lend, and have lent, themselves to 
the gravest moral abuses. 

So, Jesus had a real human body. He was 
born, was circumcised, grew up, became a 
man, experienced joy and pain, died a horrible 
death, and was buried. This is true, though 
not the whole truth. His body was for him 
the organ of his spirit under all ordinary 
circumstances; only once is he represented as 
transporting himself in other than the natural 
manner, when he appeared to his disciples 
walking on the sea, and this is presented as 
having been done in their need, not to exhibit 
himself as physically other than human. In 
fact, he regarded it as a temptation from 
Satan, which he withstood, to use other than 
human means to relieve his personal needs 
(Matt. 4. 3). Though he had the sense that 
angels were at his command, he never com- 
manded them. 

76 



THE PHYSIQUE OF JESUS 

XIV. The Holy Temple 

To his own physique Jesus himself referred 
as a temple or sanctuary ( John 2. 19 ) . It was 
the kind of physique, finally broken in service, 
that Jesus himself could symbolize by the 
broken bread of the Lord's Supper. It was 
the kind of physique of which the spiritualistic 
narratives of the transfiguration, resurrection, 
and ascension could be told by the evangelists. 
It was the kind of physique that Saint Paul 
could see mystically represented by the whole 
church, whose head was Christ. It was the 
kind of physique which the philosophic, mystic 
John could regard as the initial Word made 
flesh and of which he could have a glorified 
vision (Rev. 1. 12-16). It was the kind of 
physique that could enable the apostle Paul 
to think of the human body, and not a build- 
ing in Jerusalem, as the temple of the Holy 
Spirit. It was the kind of physique that has 
helped the world to realize that the tabernacle 
of God is with men. It was the kind of 
physique that exemplified our first ideal of 
health, with correlative vigor and effective- 
ness. 

XV. His Recognition of the Body 

What recognition did Jesus accord the 
bodies of men in his work and in his teaching? 

77 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 

In considering his own physique we have had 
to read, as it were, between the lines; in con- 
sidering this question we can read the lines 
themselves. 

1. As Provider. Let us distinguish between 
his ministry to the body in health and in 
disease; and, first, in health. Jesus was a 
provider for the bodies of those dependent on 
him. For an uncertain number of years after 
the death of Joseph, Jesus as head of the 
household labored at his trade to help support 
the family in Nazareth. His mother and 
brethren, thinking he was beside himself in 
leaving home to teach publicly, once en- 
deavored in vain to have him return (Matt. 12. 
46-50; Mark 3. 31-35; Luke 8. 19-21). Yet he 
did not forget his obligation to his mother, 
and in taking leave of the world of flesh on 
the cross, he committed her to the care of the 
beloved disciple John. He owed a higher duty 
to his heavenly Father than to his earthly 
mother ; he had indicated this to her when he 
was in the temple at twelve years of age, when 
he left her to begin to teach at about thirty, 
and also at the marriage feast in Cana later; 
but the higher duty did not displace the lower, 
and one of his seven sayings from the cross 
provided a home for her. 

For nearly three years Jesus led a public 

78 



THE PHYSIQUE OF JESUS 

life as teacher and responsible head of a com- 
pany of disciples. The little company had a 
treasurer, Judas, either appointed by Jesus 
or selected by his fellows. He carried the bag, 
or, perhaps better, the little box into which 
the funds of the company were placed, which 
he dispensed under the direction of Jesus 
(John 13. 29), except when he stole from it 
(John 12. 6). The funds were replenished 
at one time by gifts from a company of minis- 
tering women (Luke 8. 1-3) ; likewise possibly 
from the sale of the goods of those who became 
followers of Jesus. From these funds alms 
were given (John 13. 29), and no doubt food 
purchased. Once, at least, his disciples left 
Jesus weary, perhaps footsore, at Jacob's Well 
to go into the city to buy food. At another 
time they mistakenly thought he was reprov- 
ing them for having only one loaf in the boat. 
They had provided seven loaves and a few 
small fish for themselves on the occasion of 
feeding the four thousand. Once at least 
there were so many people coming and going 
they had no time to eat, the recording of the 
fact indicating it was an interruption of cus- 
tom. Jesus is reported himself to have fed 
a vast company of people once, or perhaps 
twice. Once when the disciples lacked food 
and were hungry, he allowed them to pluck 

79 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 



the ears of corn and eat on the Sabbath day. 
He also allowed his disciples to eat with un- 
washed hands. Both these things scandalized 
the ritualistic Jews. He and his disciples did 
not keep regular fasts, as did John's disciples. 
He attended wedding feasts and suppers given 
in his honor, his disciples accompanying him. 
He ordered that the raised daughter of Jairus 
should be given something to eat. He taught 
his disciples to pray for their daily bread. 
Himself he likened to the bread of life. Jesus 
condemned the ostentatious fasting of the 
Pharisees. He justified his own disciples in 
not fasting while he was with them. He did 
not enjoin fasting as a rite, though he sanc- 
tioned it as an act of voluntary devotion and 
gave directions as to how a fast so undertaken 
should be done. He himself once fasted forty 
days, not, however, as self-discipline but in 
self-absorption regarding the character of his 
Messiahship. But, on the other hand, he 
strictly forbade his disciples to be anxious 
about what they should eat, drink, and wear. 
On the whole, from all these things, we gather 
the impression that Jesus was careful to pro- 
vide for the material needs of the body, though 
recognizing them as subordinate. 

2. As Healer. So Jesus provided for the 
natural needs of the normal body. But he 

80 



THE PHYSIQUE OF JESUS 

also ministered to diseased and defective 
bodies. "Healthy people have no need of a 
doctor, but those who are ill/' he said (Luke 
5. 31). One of his believers and his most 
artistic biographer was a physician, attracted 
doubtless at the first by the healing work of 
Jesus. Both the diseases and the defects of 
the body he healed. Nineteen times the verb 
"heal" is used of Christ. In all twenty-two 
cases of healing are reported. Eight, perhaps 
ten, of these are diseases of the nervous sys- 
tem, including paralysis or palsy, epilepsy, 
probably the impotent bowed woman (Luke 
13. 11-17) and the impotent man lying by 
Bethesda's pool (John 3. 2-9), and possibly 
the man with the withered hand. Other dis- 
eases are fever, leprosy, dropsy, and issue of 
blood. Defects of the body reported as healed 
include blindness, both congenital and ac- 
quired, deafness, stammering, dumbness, 
lameness, religious maniacs, and combinations 
of these as blind and dumb demoniacs, and 
deaf stammerers, as well as the severed ear 
of Malchus, the servant of the high priest. 
On three separate occasions, life is reported 
to have been restored. Here is no lack of evi- 
dence that Jesus was a healer of the ills of 
the human body. Luke, the physician, reports 
Jesus saying of himself that he performs cures 

81 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 

(Luke 13. 32). In his own famous descrip- 
tion of his work of ministry in his message 
to John the Baptist, Jesus says: "The blind 
receive their sight, and the lame walk, the 
lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the 
dead are raised up, and the poor have the 
gospel preached to them." The Gospels sug- 
gest and the Christian world has generally 
acknowledged that he was the Great Physi- 
cian. 

Not only did Jesus himself heal the sick and 
the afflicted, but he commissioned the seventy 
to do the same, the doing of which caused 
them to rejoice. Peter, and even Paul, who 
never saw Jesus in the flesh, continued the 
work of healing. Visiting the sick is one of 
the distinguishing marks of the sheep on the 
right hand in the Day of Judgment (Matt. 
25.36). 

XVI. Unconsidered Questions 

Our purpose in this chapter involves a re- 
view of the physique of Jesus and of his recog- 
nition of the claims of the human body. This 
purpose, now in a measure accomplished, pre- 
cludes at this point the consideration of many 
interesting, in their own place proper and 
vital questions, such as, Were these cures 
really effected as represented? If so, how 

82 



THE PHYSIQUE OF JESUS 

were they effected? Were the cases correctly 
diagnosed by the evangelists? What did Jesus 
himself think about the efficient cause of dis- 
ease? How did he regard demons as related 
to disease? Did he have knowledge of the 
curative art in advance of his own generation? 
It is evident that here are weighty matters 
sufficient for a volume in themselves by a 
master both of exegesis and of the history and 
practice of medicine. Our immediate purpose 
is attained if we have indicated how Jesus 
exemplified the ideal of health in his own body 
and ministered to that ideal in the bodies of 
others. Had he done less than this, he could 
not have become the standard of complete 
living. Our task is to represent Jesus in rela- 
tion to the five ideals of complete living as the 
Gospels present him. 

But it is important for us in effecting a 
transition to our succeeding discussions to 
indicate two things: (1) that Jesus distin- 
guished between body and soul, and (2) that 
he healed the body not alone for the body's 
sake. 

XVII. The Body for the Soul 

To take the second point first. He couples 
his statement that only the sick are in need 
of a physician with another : a I am not come to 

83 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 

call the righteous, but sinners to repentance" 
(Luke 5. 32). He healed the palsied man 
partly that his critics might know he had 
power on earth to forgive sins. This power 
he likewise committed to his disciples (John 
20. 23). Again he taught that he had come 
into the w^orld for judgment, that they that 
see not may see, and that they that see may 
become blind (John 9. 39). His healings 
were regularly followed by a warning to sin 
no more, or an assurance that faith was the 
cure, or a command either not to tell anybody 
or to tell one's friends of the Lord's mercy. 
Is it not evident that the healing of the body 
in his mind was coupled with the healing of 
the soul? He used the mind to help heal the 
body and he healed the body in his cure of 
souls. Not that Jesus would discard other 
aids to healing than the mind; he himself 
made and used a clay ointment (John 9. 6) ; 
and the parable of the Good Samaritan indi- 
cates the use of oil and wine for injuries. 
The Body, Our other point was to note that Jesus dis- 

ciothe^ss tinguished the claims of body and soul. The 
than spirit body is good, but not the best, would seem 
to be his thought. The body is good, for "it 
is a greater gift than clothing." The very hairs 
of the head are providentially numbered. Yet 
he distinctly warned against making eating, 

84 



THE PHYSIQUE OF JESUS 

drinking, and clothing objects of anxious care, 
as the spiritually unquickened do. All such 
things should be subjected to the righteous- 
ness of the Kingdom ( Matt. 6. 33 ) . We are not 
to fear those who can kill only the body, but 
him who can destroy both soul and body. A 
hand or foot giving offense to the soul is to be 
cut off. The weakness of the flesh hinders the 
willingness of the spirit. Paul again seems 
to have caught the mind of Christ in teaching 
Timothy: "Exercise for the body is not use- 
less" ; and the Corinthians that the body is for 
the Lord and the Lord for the body: "Then 
glorify God with your body" (1 Cor. 6. 13-20). 
This brings us to the consideration of Jesus 
and the second ideal of complete living, 
namely, goodness. 



85 



CHAPTER III 

THE GOODNESS OF JESUS 

"Thou hast given a banner to them that fear 
Thee, 
That it may be displayed because of the 
truth." 

—Psalm 60. 4. 



CHAPTEK III 
THE GOODNESS OF JESUS 

I. Jesus and Skill 

Let us recall the three elements of goodness 
found in our first chapter, namely, skill, per- 
sonal integrity, and social righteousness. 
After our discussion in the second chapter of 
Jesus as a carpenter in relation to his phy- 
sique, it will not be necessary to linger longer 
on the vocational skill of Jesus. We cannot 
reasonably doubt that his work with tools was 
well done, that he was able by his labor to 
maintain himself and those dependent upon 
him, and that his development of the motor 
elements of his nervous system through hand- 
ling tools so many years helped to give the 
tang of reality, the note of sympathy, the 
hatred of sham, and democratic accessibility 
to all his later life. 

His Appreciation of Vocational Skill. It 
remains to indicate in connection with this 
phase of goodness the recognition Jesus ac- 
corded in his life and teaching to vocational 

89 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 



The Fishermen 
Disciplea 



The Publican 
Disciple 



skill. Did Jesus appreciate those who can 
and do earn their own way in the world? 
First, let us note his personal relations with 
followers of various vocations. In this group 
we find fishermen, tax-collectors, farmers of 
revenue, bankers or money-changers, and the 
treasurer of his own company of disciples. 
Among those he called to be his disciples, four 
at least were fishermen: the brothers Simon 
and Andrew, and the brothers James and 
John — all from Bethsaida, "the house of fish," 
on the sea of Tiberias. Two other disciples, 
Thomas and Nathanael, as well as two un- 
named disciples, may have been fishermen 
also, at least occasionally (John 21. 2). The 
Christian movement started with an unusual 
carpenter and four usual fishermen, all repre- 
sentatives of labor. 

Another disciple, Matthew, was a tax-col- 
lector for the Romans, under Herod Antipas, 
and so was a member of the despised class of 
"publicans." He was not rejected because he 
worked for the Roman overlords. At an enter- 
tainment given in his honor in Matthew's 
house in Capernaum, Jesus met and mingled 
freely with many other publicans. This de- 
tested class was commonly mentioned in the 
same breath not only with Gentiles but with 
harlots and sinners in general. Their beset- 

90 



THE GOODNESS OF JESUS 

ting sin was extortion, against which John 
the Baptist inveighed, yet this sin was to Jesus 
a less hindrance to entering the Kingdom 
than the formalism and hypocrisy of the reli- 
gious class, the Pharisees and scribes (Luke 
18. 10-14). 

Zacchaeus was a chief publican of Jericho; a chief 
that is, he had underlings who collected for PubUcan 
him what he in turn transmitted to the Roman 
authorities. He may have farmed out the 
revenues from the Jerusalem balsam gardens, 
or the taxes from the important commercial 
center of Jericho. Jesus paid him marked 
attention, accepted his hospitality, and re- 
garded him as a son of Abraham because 
either he was honest and benevolent or was 
going to be. 

Bankers, or money-changers, had their Bankers 
tables usually in the market places. They 
exchanged money for those coming from the 
remote provinces and likewise received money 
on deposit for which they paid high rates of 
interest. Jesus implicitly commended this 
type of business in saying of the slothful serv- 
ant in the parable of the pounds and of the 
talents that he should have put his money in 
the bank where it would draw interest. An 
apocryphal saying of Jesus, quite in harmony 
with these parables, is "Be ye tried bankers." 

91 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 

The severity of Jesus in dealing with the 
money-changers and the traffickers in the 
sacrificial animals, who had established them- 
selves in the very temple, perhaps with the 
connivance of the capitalistic Sadducean au- 
thorities, was not due to their business as 
such, but to the sacred place and the dishonest 
methods of its conduct. The house of prayer 
had become a house of merchandise and a 
double profit was exacted from the country 
worshipers who first must get their money 
exchanged and then must purchase an offi- 
cially approved animal. It has been conjec- 
tured that the shepherds who kept watch of 
their flocks by night at the time of the Advent 
were in the employ of the temple authorities. 
Jesus had no objection to banking, buying, 
and selling, but to sacrilege and graft. 
The Treasurer Judas too was a man of business ability 
with whom Jesus had the most intimate per- 
sonal relations. Judas reclined on one side 
of Jesus and John on the other at their last 
meal together. He was selected either by 
Jesus or his fellows for his position doubtless 
because of his financial ability. He was ap- 
parently the only member of the disciples from 
Judaea. But he was covetous and became a 
thief. He objected to an act of costly devotion 
when Mary anointed the feet of Jesus in the 

92 



THE GOODNESS OF JESUS 

Bethany home, suggesting alms for the poor 
instead, which would pass through his hands. 
Chosen because of his peculiar fitness, he be- 
came a traitor through surrender to the defect 
of his quality. Through sympathy and the 
desire to rescue him, if possible, Jesus re- 
tained his services even until he cut himself 
off by the betrayal, and then Jesus recalled 
with a pang that Judas alone had he lost of 
all that had been given him. 

If we review the whole list of persons voca- 
tionally engaged with whom Jesus had deal- 
ings, there is evidence of full appreciation of 
skill, wherever employed, and deprecation 
only of its perversion from true ends. 

Continuing our question, Did Jesus appre- Figures of 
ciate vocational skill? let us note next how fo^ c £ a b r * wn 
his metaphors and similes are drawn from the 
common life of labor. The lilies of the field 
do not toil. "Other men have toiled, and you 
reap the profit of their toil" (John 4. 38). 
Thus he was spiritualizing for the disciples one 
of the proverbs of the day: "One sows and 
another reaps." The harvest is rich but the 
laborers are few. The workman deserves his 
wages. He took another saying, "Four months 
yet, then harvest," and applied it spiritually: 
"See, the fields are white for harvesting!" 
(John 4. 35.) He continues the figure: "The 

93 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 

reaper is already getting his wages and har- 
vesting for eternal life, so that the sower 
shares the reaper's joy." Of two men in the 
field, one will be taken and one left in the 
great day of the Son of man. His estate kept 
one from the marriage supper of the king's 
son. "I am too weak to dig," the unjust 
steward shamefully confesses. No man who 
puts his hand to the plow and then looks be- 
hind him is any use to the reign of God. There 
are workers too of iniquity who, at the last, 
must depart from him. Reviewing this list, 
here appear generic toilers, and, specifically, 
sowers, reapers, landowners, diggers, and 
plowmen. 
Laborers in It was to shepherds following their usual 

the Gospel occupation that the angels appeared at the 
birth of Jesus. It was to his disciples, fish- 
ing, that Jesus appeared twice, both before 
and after the resurrection. At their call, with 
a play of words, he used their vocation to de- 
scribe their new employment: "I will make 
you fishers of men." Though doubtless in- 
tended for the spiritually heavy-laden under 
the Pharisaic yoke, one of his most attractive 
invitations was addressed to laborers: "Come 
unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, 
and I will give you rest." These instances 
show both great variety in the types of labor 

94 



THE GOODNESS OF JESUS 

used for illustrative purposes and the spirit- 
ualizing of labor through using its terms to 
convey higher meanings. If Jesus had con- 
demned labor, as did the Greek philosophers, 
the form of his teaching would hardly have 
been so influenced by it. 

The most remarkable figures of speech of Parables 
Jesus are his parables, earthly stories with L abor 
heavenly meanings. Among the parables 
drawn from lowly life are the sower, which 
perhaps had better be called the parable of 
the soils, the good shepherd, the drag-net, the 
vineyard (twice), the lost coin, the rich 
farmer fool, and the new wine in old bottles. 
These refer to common occupations of his day, 
which many of his hearers followed and all 
understood. These parables, the beauty and 
difficulty of which he who tries to compose 
one will the more appreciate, show Jesus not 
only knowing and sympathizing with work 
and workers but also using these as spiritual 
emblems. 

In the same way some of the common trades T he Trades in 

„ , . j -2 , . . , . ___ , the Gospels 

of his day figure in his teaching. We have 
already seen in our second chapter how he 
himself, being a worker in wood, 6 tektcjv, 
belonged to the artisan class, and how it 
shaped his thinking. His sayings regarding 
the plow and his yoke are the more significant 

95 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 

in the light of the tradition that he made these 
implements. The mason's work appears in 
the stone that the builders rejected, though 
this figure was borrowed by Jesus from the 
Old Testament. The lilies, in Luke's account, 
do not spin or weave. The tailor's work ap- 
pears in his saying: "No one stitches a piece 
of undressed cloth on an old coat" (Mark 2. 
21 ) . The occupations of women as well as of 
men appear. In addition to spinning and 
weaving already indicated, the two women 
grinding at the mill are like the two men in 
the field. The Kingdom is compared to the 
leaven hid by a woman in three measures of 
meal, and to wise and foolish bridesmaids. 
A woman doubtless wove his seamless robe, 
as well as the camel's hair garment of his 
cousin John. His clothes at the transfigura- 
tion surpassed in whiteness any earthly fuller's 
work. And at the last his broken body was 
laid in a new tomb cut by a mason from the 
living rock. Thus, in many ways, without 
intending it, the Gospels show his relations 
to the trades. Other trades of his day to 
which his teachings as they have survived do 
not refer are : the smith, baker, tanner, sandal- 
maker, tent-maker, wool-comber, potter, per- 
fumer, and jeweler. 

Passing from the fields of manual labor and 

96 



THE GOODNESS OF JESUS 

trades with our question whether Jesus appre- 
ciated vocational skill into the field of busi- Recognition 
ness and commerce, there is a similar story ^commerce 
to tell. His first recorded words show him 
about his Father's business, or in his Father's 
house. Keligion was his business, so to speak. 
It was businesslike to buy oil for one's lamp, 
to render unto Caesar the things that are 
Caesar's, to count the cost before building a 
tower, and to trade with what*one has : "Trade 
with this till I come back" (Luke 19. 13) is 
one of his injunctions. It was unbusinesslike, 
wicked, and slothful not to put money in one's 
keeping out at interest. There comes a time 
when the disciple must sell his coat and buy 
a sword (Luke 22. 36). Jesus recognizes as 
one form of merchandise that a debtor, and 
even his family, might be sold into slavery 
(Matt. 18. 23). 

Yet he recognized the danger that business, 
proper in its own place and relationship, may 
insidiously usurp the function of higher privi- 
leges. Thus, instead of attending the mar- 
riage supper of the king's son, one of the 
invited guests went to his business, another 
had bought five pair of oxen, and yet another 
had bought a farm. In protest, Jesus asks in 
the very language of the mart, "What shall 
it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, 

97 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 



Parables 
Drawn from 
Business 



Summary of 
Jesus' Attitude 
Toward 
Business 



and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man 
give in exchange for his soul?" 

Parables of Jesus drawn from business and 
commerce are relatively numerous, including 
the merchant seeking goodly pearls, the 
pounds, in which a nobleman is presented as 
a trader, the talents, the unjust steward, the 
hid treasure, and the two debtors. He evi- 
dently regarded it as good business to get a 
proper return from the use of money and land, 
to assign tasks and to give rewards according 
to individual capacity, to be faithful in trifles, 
and to keep one's contract, though the Lord 
of the vineyard may at his pleasure substitute 
benevolence for justice. Commerce supplied 
to love the precious ointments, fifty dollars' 
worth at one time (Mark 14. 5) wherewith he 
allowed his head and feet to be anointed and 
the linen sheet and the spices, myrrh, and 
aloes, a hundred pounds (John 20. 39) for his 
broken body. 

It is evident that Jesus appreciated and 
utilized in his teaching various forms of busi- 
ness. It was not the business life, but only its 
abuse that he ever rejected. He has no whole- 
sale condemnation of trade. It may have been 
a traveling foreign merchant on his way to 
Jericho, showing common humanity where 
the professedly religious failed, who suggested 

98 



THE GOODNESS OF JESUS 

to Jesus the marvelous parable of the good 
Samaritan. 

This attitude of Jesus toward trade, which, contrast with 
of course, has come to be for various reasons Tab^f* and 
the prevailing Hebrew attitude, is the more 
striking if we contrast it with the views of 
Apocrypha and Talmud before and after his 
day. In Ecclesiasticus we read : "A merchant 
shall hardly keep himself from wrong doing; 
and a huckster shall not be acquitted of sin" 
(26. 29); also this: "A nail will stick fast 
between the joinings of stones; and sin will 
thrust itself in between buying and selling" 
(27. 2). Similarly in the Talmud a proverbial 
saying is, "He who teaches his son to trade is 
as if he taught him to steal." The Talmud 
has little in favor of trade; the Gospels have 
nothing against it. 

Did Jesus, then, appreciate vocational skill? The Attitude of 

Testis Towsxd 

In the light of the evidence, who can doubt it? skm 
He himself followed a trade before he was 
thirty and esteemed it. It was a Hebrew cus- 
tom that every youth should learn a trade. 
This custom was sanctioned by the rabbis, some 
of whom were themselves mechanics, includ- 
ing three famous ones, Hillel, Gamaliel, and 
Shammai. Jesus said, "I must work the works 
of him that sent me." "Why stand ye here 
all the day idle?" is one of his ever-pertinent 

99 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 

inquiries. Using a monetary analogy, he said 
he came to give his life a ransom for many. 
His most devoted followers were gained from 
the laboring classes. Christianity itself, in 
so far as it adhered to his teaching, became 
the wearing of his easy yoke and the carrying 
of his light burden. Thus labor provided one 
view of the Christian life. Through his spirit- 
ualizing of varied forms of labor, he brought 
together the two worlds of work and worship, 
which were largely separated in his day. He 
himself sent out laborers, first twelve, then 
seventy. He taught that the servant of all 
is the greatest of all, and he called his servants 
his friends. The poor he blessed. Indeed, it 
is almost easy to prove too much here — that 
his gospel is exclusively for workers, which, 
however, we shall see would be a mistaken 
view. It is clear that Jesus appreciated labor 
in various typical forms, earning ability, and 
vocational skill. Only so much was it our 
present purpose to indicate. 

Saint Paul practiced the teaching and fol- 
lowed the example of Jesus in his own life 
as tent-maker and missionary, and likewise 
transcribed the mind of Jesus in such phrases 
as : "do not be indolent when zeal is required" 
(Rom. 12. 11, Weymouth Tr.), and in such 
injunctions as: "If a man will not work, he 

100 



THE GOODNESS OF JESUS 

shall not eat" (2 Thess. 3. 10)— a socially 
transforming economic principle; and this: 
"Profess honest occupations, so as to be able 
to meet such special occasions" (Titus 3. 14). 

There is a remarkable apocryphal supple- 
ment (in Codex Bezse) to Luke 6. 4, which 
though concerned primarily with the ques- 
tion of Sabbath observance, very well sums up 
also the attitude of Jesus toward labor. Jesus, 
it says, "seeing a certain man working on the 
Sabbath day, said to him: 'O man, if thou 
indeed knowest what thou art doing, thou art 
blessed; but if thou knowest not, thou art 
cursed, and art a transgressor of the law.' " 
This is such a fresh statement of a view har- 
monizing with all the thought of Jesus on 
both the Sabbath and the labor question that 
some scholars believe it rests on a real inci- 
dent. Labor, even on the Sabbath, if per- 
formed with the sense of divine fellowship, 
is blessed, as he himself said, in defense 
against the charge of Sabbath-breaking: "My 
Father worketh hitherto, and I work." But 
this anticipates our final chapter. 

Jesus had sympathy with labor, rightly 
pursued, as he had sympathy with capital, 
rightly employed. To this question we must 
recur in dealing presently with the social 
goodness of Jesus. We turn first to 

101 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 

II. The Personal Goodness of Jesus 

Difficulties of We tread here on much-debated ground. 

tws Topic rj^ £ pj c j g difficult. Dogmas centuries old 
have supplied us with prepossessions. Good- 
ness is partly a matter of motive and inner 
thought, concerning which Jesus himself 
taught us not to judge. Yet personal good- 
ness is requisite for complete living, and, if 
the life of Jesus is typically complete, we must 
consider his personal goodness. In doing so, 
as before, we will allow the gospel records to 
speak for themselves, for it is the Christ of 
the Gospels who is mankind's ideal, and every 
endeavor to reconstruct the historic Jesus of 
Nazareth apart from the gospel record rests 
in a measure upon the imagination and is un- 
convincing to the mass of mankind. Jesus 
was certainly the kind of person about whom 
the Gospels could be written. 

1. The Temptations. The goodness of Jesus 
was not above temptation. Of God the apostle 
James says that he cannot be tempted of evil, 
but Jesus was tempted, not once only but 
repeatedly. It is not sin, however, to be 
tempted, but it is sin to play with temptation 
or to yield to it. The great temptation of 
Jesus he fought out in silence at the begin- 
ning of his ministry, though afterward he 
told some of the disciples about it, the record 

102 



THE GOODNESS OF JESUS 

of which is originally an autobiographical 
part of the Gospel. 

Jesus came to John the Baptist to receive occasion 
baptism at his hands with this question doubt- Temptation 
less in mind, "Am I the Messiah?'' The bap- 
tism answered this question in the affirmative. 
The next question naturally was, since several 
different views of the coming Messiah were 
current, "What kind of a Messiah shall I be?" 
At this point "the Spirit drove him immedi- 
ately into the desert, and in the desert he 
remained for forty days, while Satan tempted 
him." 

Considering the alternative carefully in significance 

i i .... • « of the 

each case and recognizing it as coming trom Temptation 
evil, he made three great decisions as to his 
Messiahship, namely, (1) He was not to use 
his power to relieve his own needs; (2) he 
was not to work miracles before the people 
to win a following; (3) he was not to win 
a physical kingdom by compromising with 
evil. These were the three temptations of 
making the stones into bread, casting himself 
down from the pinnacle of the temple, and 
worshiping Satan on the mountaintop. Posi- 
tively stated, his decisions were (1) to be a 
suffering Messiah; (2) using moral, not physi- 
cal and spectacular means; (3) to win a 
spiritual, not physical kingdom. The tempta- 

103 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 



Jesus Was 
Repeatedly 
Tempted 



He Conquered 

Through 

Struggles 



tion consisted in the fact that the three 
alternatives, namely, to serve himself, to 
dazzle the Jerusalem multitude, to become a 
temporal king, though appearing easy short- 
cuts, were really from the evil one and not in 
accord with the will of God. So he conquered, 
though it cost him such intense thought and 
struggle of soul that he forgot the needs of 
the body. 

Even so, Satan left him only for a season, 
returning in the words of rebuke of Peter that 
Jesus should suffer, in the demands of the 
Pharisees for a sign, and in the plan of the 
people to make him a king, as well as in the 
betrayal and the agony in Gethsemane. At 
the Last Supper he said to his disciples: 
"It is you who have stood by me through my 
trials." The author of Hebrews writes he was 
"in all points tempted like as we are, yet with- 
out sin." Certain it is that neither at the out- 
set nor during his ministry did Jesus yield 
to any one of the three major temptations 
of his life. So he conquered. 

Yet the conquest was not without many 
struggles of soul. His reply to his mother in 
Cana of Galilee when she suggested that he 
relieve through his power the embarrassment 
of their host indicates that he regarded the 
suggestion as similar to the first temptation. 

104 



THE GOODNESS OF JESUS 

He sighed deeply in spirit (Mark 8. 12) when 
having to refuse a sign to the Pharisees whom 
he earnestly desired to win ; it was a repetition 
of the second temptation. Likewise his soul 
was troubled (John 12. 27) when the prospect 
of the cross prevented his following up the 
signs of faith among the Greeks. Again he 
raised the question whether he should be saved 
from suffering, only to answer it quickly in 
the negative. The temptation to avoid physi- 
cal and spiritual suffering entered into the 
agony in the garden, as he told the disciples 
to watch and pray lest they enter into tempta- 
tion. 

2. The Character of Jesus. A volume could 
be written — volumes have been written — on 
the qualities of the character of Jesus. Some 
of the outstanding ones, easily based on the 
gospel records, are: love of God; love of man 
(his compassion often leading him to work 
miracles of healing, though he would perform 
no sign to win acceptance of his Messiah- 
ship) ; obedience, even unto death on the 
cross; self-control, self-denial, self-respect, 
sincerity, loyalty, courage, faithfulness, calm- 
ness, patience, prudence, hopefulness, hu- 
mility and meekness; tender thoughtfulness, 
endurance, dignity, and self-sacrifice. These 
nineteen qualities of his character are inter- 

105 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 



Love to God 
and Man 



Obedience 



Self-Control 



Self-Denial 



related, and some of them anticipate an ac- 
count of his social goodness, such as, love of 
man, tender thoughtfulness, and self-sacrifice. 

Love to God he proclaimed as the great com- 
mandment in the law which he himself ex- 
emplified in his obedience, his trust, and his 
reverence for the temple. Love to man he 
proclaimed as the second commandment in the 
law, which he exemplified in works of mercy 
and charitable judgment. 

His obedience included keeping the Ten 
Commandments, no infraction of which is re- 
ported by his watchful enemies; Sabbath k 
observance* by attendance on the synagogues 
and abstaining from any material work on 
that day; and observing the Mosaic law in 
commanding the cleansed lepers to show them- 
selves to the priests. Also he always did those 
things that pleased the Father. 

Self-control he exercised over his appetites, 
instincts, and emotions, as when, though hun- 
gry, he ministered to the needy soul of the 
Samaritan woman and, though in tears, re- 
stored Lazarus to his loved ones. 

Self-denial he practiced in fasting, during 
the temptation; celibacy; giving alms; vigils; 
and rejection of the luxuries of life, and he 
taught self-denial as a method of following 
him (Matt. 16. 24). 

106 



THE GOODNESS OF JESUS 

Self-respect he manifested in the absence seif-Respect 
of both vanity and servility, declining to be a 
temporal king, riding on an ass on Palm Sun- 
day as king of peace (Zech. 9. 9), and profess- 
ing to be a king indeed before Pilate. 

His sincerity is transparent, his actions and sincerity 
speech expressing his thought, and his inner 
life* freely manifesting itself. Some thought he 
was mistaken, others crazy, others blasphe- 
mous, but none thought him insincere, while his 
bitterest denunciations are against hypocrisy. 

After a volume devoted to The Philosophy Loyalty 
of Loyalty, Professor Royce reaches the defini- 
tion (p. 357) : "Loyalty is the Will to Believe 
in something eternal, and to express that be- 
lief in the practical life of a human being." 
It reads like a description of the life of Jesus, 
devoted to revealing the Father to man. 

Courageously he walked before his little courage 
band of followers on the way up to Jerusalem, 
well knowing the condemnation, mocking, 
scourging, and cruel death awaiting him 
there; courageously he returned to Judaea 
when Lazarus died, though the disciples re- 
monstratingly reminded him that the Jews 
were but recently seeking to stone him; cou- 
rageously he went forth in the garden to the 
band of soldiers seeking him and asked, 
"Whom seek ye?" Courageously he reminded 

107 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 



Pilate, who had power to release or to crucify 
him, that his power was given him from above. 
Even his enemies acknowledged his coura- 
geous independence with the ingratiating 
words: "Teacher, we know you are sincere 
and that you teach the Way of God honestly 
and fearlessly ; you do not court human favor" 
(Matt. 22. 16). 

Faithfulness In faithfulness he felt it his meat to do 

his Father's will and to accomplish his work, 
while it was day, for the night cometh, he 
said, when no man can work. 

calmness He a l° n e was calm in the storm on the lake; 

in fact, his serene repose of soul appears never 
to have passed into lack of self-control, though 
he deeply felt his experiences of temptation, 
hypocrisy, treachery, and sorrow. Had he 
lost self-control, he doubtless would have 
failed in his cleansing of the temple. 

Patience Patiently he labored and waited during the 

eighteen silent years till the time of his show- 
ing forth, patiently he trained the twelve, and 
patiently he endured the indignities put upon 
him, using will power thereby no less than 
had he resisted with might. 

Prudence Prudently he cared for his life until his 

"hour" had come, not exposing himself to dan- 
ger except in the line of duty, not needlessly 
giving offense to his critics, withdrawing into 

108 



THE GOODNESS OF JESUS 

Galilee after Herod had put John in prison, 
retiring with his disciples to the desert after 
John was executed, withdrawing for a time 
to the sea when the Pharisees and Herodians 
took counsel against him, and in his teaching 
cautioning his followers to count the cost of 
discipleship. 

Hopefully Jesus, being hungry, came to the Hope 
fig tree, "to see if he could find anything on it" ; 
hopefully he anticipated eating the passover 
with his disciples before his suffering (Luke 
22. 15) ; with hope fixed on "the joy that was 
set before him," he endured the cross and 
despised the shame; and his followers he 
encouraged to be of good cheer, for he had 
overcome the world. 

In humility he was born in a stable, during Humility 
his public ministry was without a home, at 
times was without money, as when the temple 
tax was to be paid (Matt. 17. 27), was unwill- 
ing to be called "good" as a matter of polite 
intercourse, and described himself as "meek 
and lowly of heart." 

In tender consideration after the trans- Tender 
figuration he came and touched his three Consideration 
affrighted disciples; after the resurrection he 
sent his "brethren" word to report into 
Galilee where they would see him ; when they 
were weary he invited them apart into a desert 

109 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 



place to rest awhile ; when they were distressed 
in rowing on account of the contrary wind 
on the lake, he comes to them, walking on the 
sea; when being himself arrested, he requests 
that his disciples may go their way; and to 
weeping Mary looking for her Lord, he makes 
himself known by pronouncing her name. 

Endurance His endurance is shown in the persistence 

and perseverance with which he held to the 
line of duty despite the trials to which he was 
subjected in so doing. He never wavered, 
though his portion was misunderstanding by 
relatives, dullness of friends, hatred of 
enemies, and isolation of soul, except for 
divine companionship. "How am I straitened 
till it be accomplished!" he said. He warned 
his disciples likewise that they should have 
tribulation in the world, and that endurance 
to the end was necessary. 

Dignity That Jesus had dignity of character is 

shown by the reverence paid him by John; by 
the fear of his disciples to ask him about the 
things that should befall him in Jerusalem; 
by the awe of the Roman soldiers as they fell 
to the ground in his presence; by his silence 
before Herod, the chief priest, and even Pilate, 
when under false accusations; by the feeling 
of repulsion felt by demoniacs in his presence ; 
by the centurion's consciousness of unworthi- 

110 



THE GOODNESS OF JESUS 

ness ; and by Peter's sense of sinfulness ( Luke 
5. 8). Likewise he told his disciples to have 
salt in themselves. 

The self-sacrifice of Jesus consists in his seif-sacnfice 
living a devoted life and dying a voluntary 
death in harmony with his Father's will for 
him. And he taught his disciples the paradox 
of love: "He that loseth his life for my sake 
shall find it." 

One feels that this list, though long, might contrasts 
yet be lengthened justly as one analyzes the 
complex unity of Christ's character. It is a 
unity in which striking contrasts 1 appear: 
Jesus was prudent in avoiding danger, yet 
courageous in facing danger. He was patient 
under wrong, yet indignant at wrong. He 
was meek and lowly, yet self-assertive. He 
was very accessible, yet at times very reserved. 
He was passionate, yet patient and self-con- 
trolled. He respected authority, precedent, 
and the past, yet he was bound by none of 
these things and gave freedom to man. He 
was a dreamer of dreams, yet intensely prac- 
tical. He was oft in seclusion, yet still of tener 
in crowds. He was tolerant of publicans and 
sinners, but intolerant of sin. He was rigid 
in his treatment of the Phoenician mother, yet 

1 Compare Prank E. Wilson, Contrasts in the Charac- 
ter of Christ. Fleming H. Revell Co. 

Ill 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 



Symmetry 



Defects of 
His Qualities 
Lacking 



his heart is divided between dying and living 
at the prospect of faith among the Greeks. He 
longed for human sympathy, yet he took no 
pains to soften the truth, though it cost him 
the loss of followers. He had an eye for 
detail — the hairs of the head, the sparrow's 
fall — yet he saw the universal reign of God 
at hand. He provided bread for the hungry, 
yet he had meat to eat which his disciples 
knew not of. The individual was worth more 
than the whole world, yet it was nothing 
apart from union with "the vine." He was a 
Jew, yet "the Son of man." 

Such contrasts exist as facts in the charac- 
ter of Jesus, yet they do not impress one as 
contradictions; they illustrate the reconcilia- 
tion of opposites. The circumstances under 
which he was placed determine in a measure 
the side of his character which appears. We 
are thus impressed with the unity, symmetry, 
and proportion of the character of Christ. 
This is a matter of feeling as we try to sur- 
vey his wholeness. It is a matter of total 
impression, not subject to proof or to specific 
illustration. 

It is a part of symmetry to be lacking in 
angular extremes. With difficulty, if at all, 
can one find in the life of Jesus incidents 
clearly showing any of these marring quali- 

112 



THE GOODNESS OF JESUS 

ties : ecstasy, one-sidedness, rashness, emotion- 
alism, obstinacy, punctiliousness, casuistry, 
fault-finding, unbending formality, incon- 
sideration, flattery, egotism, vanity, asceti- 
cism, bewilderment, fanaticism, slavishness, 
selfishness, despair, self-pity, primness, awk- 
wardness, cruelty, or discourtesy. He appears 
to have lacked "the defects of the qualities" 
he had. 

Fortunately, we are not without record of impressions 

• 2^3.dc by Testis 

the impression Jesus made upon various onHis 
classes of his contemporaries. The man born contemporaries 
blind who was healed by Jesus, with increas- 
ing boldness under the grueling of the Phari- 
sees, finally asserted: "If this man were not 
from God, he could do nothing" (John 9. 33) ; 
for this conclusion he was excommunicated, 
as he knew he would be. The chief priests 
and the whole council sought witness against 
Jesus in enmity to put him to death, but found 
it not. Herod, the Jewish tetrarch, found no 
fault in him. Pilate's wife warned him to 
have nothing to do with "that righteous man." 
Pilate, the Roman judge, after private exami- 
nation, found no crime in him, so told the Jews, 
and endeavored by a ceremonial act of wash- 
ing to proclaim his innocence of the blood of 
"this righteous man." The thief on the cross 
testified : "This man hath done nothing amiss." 

113 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 

The Roman centurion after witnessing the 
crucifixion asserted, "Truly this man was the 
Son of God." Judas the betrayer with bitter 
remorse confessed: "I have sinned in that I 
have betrayed the innocent blood." John the 
forerunner, though administering the rite of 
baptism for repentance unto the remission of 
sins, recognized his need to be baptized by 
Jesus. Peter during the lifetime of Jesus 
felt his own sinfulness in the presence of 
Jesus, and after the death of Jesus Peter 
wrote of him that he did no sin, neither was 
guile found in his mouth ( 1 Pet. 2. 22 ) . John, 
the beloved disciple, who of all the disciples 
knew Jesus most intimately and was perhaps 
best prepared to understand him, wrote : "We 
have seen his glory, glory such as an only son 
enjoys from his father — seen it to be full of 
grace and reality" (Moffatt Tr.). Adjectives 
applied to him in the Acts and Epistles by 
Luke, Peter, John, and the author of Hebrews 
are : holy, righteous, pure, guileless, undefiled, 
separated from sinners, without sin. Paul 
too, though he had never seen Jesus in the 
flesh, yet from his own remarkable experience 
and that of others was ready to assert that 
Jesus knew no sin (2 Cor. 5. 2J^: 
Another set of But these were not the only impressions 
impressions ma a e by Jesus upon his contemporaries. Had 

114 



THE GOODNESS OF JESUS 

they been, he had not been crucified. There 
were those who thought, or pretended so to 
think, that Jesus broke the Sabbath, that he 
would set aside the law of Moses, that he was 
guilty of sedition and would make himself 
king in Caesar's room, that he was wrong in 
associating with sinners, that he should have 
fasted more, that he made preposterous claims 
about rebuilding the temple in three days, 
that he was guilty of blasphemy in making 
himself to be the Son of God. These charges 
hardly affect his personal goodness, are 
mainly political and ceremonial in character, 
and as such, we now know, rest largely on 
misapprehension of his deeds and words. 
These impressions provide a striking contrast 
with the preceding set and serve to assist us 
in realizing the powerful character of Jesus 
as an individual in standing forth against the 
rigid ecclesiastical system of his day. 

A very different set of impressions we Flaws Found 
gather from modern critics of the character Q Titics 
of Jesus. Among the things they find are 
that Jesus was tactless in his first sermon in 
Nazareth in telling his fellow citizens "a 
prophet is not without honor save in his own 
country" ; that he was rude in practically call- 
ing the Syrophoenician woman a dog; that he 
disregarded property rights in sending the 

J15 



JESUS— OUE STANDARD 

evil spirits into the swine; that he was disin- 
genuous in telling his brothers he was not 
going up to the feast he afterward attended; 
that as a boy of twelve he did not act and 
speak properly to Joseph and Mary; that his 
replies to Mary at the wedding feast in Cana 
and when she would bring him home from his 
public ministry, were not worthy ; that he was 
unduly vehement in cleansing the temple ; that 
he was arrogant, being so young, and so irregu- 
larly prepared as a rabbi, in his attacks on 
the scribes and Pharisees; that he gave way 
to vexatious disappointment in cursing the 
barren fig tree on which he came looking for 
fruit; that he himself practically acknowl- 
edged he was not without fault in accepting 
John's baptism; and, further, that on one 
occasion he rejected the epithet "good" from 
a would-be disciple, 
comment These criticisms probably had not occurred 

to us in reading the Gospels. They have prac- 
tically all arisen since the age of rationalism, 
and mainly in the nineteenth century. With- 
out considering these criticisms in detail one 
by one, we may simply remark concerning 
them that Mary evidently took no offense on 
any one of the three occasions; rather she 
pondered and wondered; in each case he had 
indicated the supremacy of the spiritual over 

116 



on These 
Criticisms 



THE GOODNESS OF JESUS 

other interests: his Father's house had de- 
tained him from the homeward journey; his 
"hour" had not yet come, though he did as 
Mary suggested at the wedding, as she evi- 
dently knew he would do; and kinship with 
those who did the will of God was superior 
to all other earthly ties. "Woman" was a 
common mode of address, and we do not know 
the tone with which Jesus uttered it, on which 
a great deal depends. There is something the 
matter with the man not indignant at wrong 
and ready to redress it, as in cleansing the 
temple. His attacks on the scribes and 
Pharisees were addressed to a class and their 
sins of religious formalism; it was the moral 
earnestness of a soul nourished on the 
prophets. The fig tree served as an opportune 
object-lesson to his disciples of the curse rest- 
ing on the fruitless religious classes of the 
time. John's baptism was a preparation and 
consecration for the greater movement to 
come, to which Jesus in humility dedicated 
himself, as one with those who should follow 
him — it was not merely a baptism unto remis- 
sion of sins. He rejected the matchless epithet 
"good" as a form of polite intercourse, and in 
doing so taught the uniqueness of the absolute 
goodness of God. So, no one of the supposed 
flaws in the character of Jesus can go un- 

117 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 

challenged as an admitted weakness. The 
reader doubtless has, or could find with profit, 
his own comment on each supposed fault on 
the list. If one rejects on principle the idea 
of the incarnation, as the rationalists did, one 
is committed in advance to finding fault in 
the character of Jesus; just as, if one begins 
by affirming the deity of Jesus, one is com- 
mitted in advance to finding no fault. It is 
better always to examine the evidence before 
reaching one's conclusion. 

We have let friends, neutrals, and foes, con- 
temporaries and moderns, testify to their im- 
pressions of the goodness of Jesus. What does 
he himself say? 
what jesus In one sense this is not a fair question, as 

Himself Jesus himself recognized in his words: "If I 

testify to myself, then my evidence is not 
valid." Later he added one of those unparal- 
leled expressions of his: "But I receive not 
testimony from man" (John 5. 34), the mean- 
ing of which appears in the later statement, 
"the very works that I do bear witness of me, 
that the Father hath sent me." His works 
lead us to accept his words. To the Jews 
he testified, "I always do what pleases him" 
( John 8. 29 ) — a saying which recalls the voice 
out of the heavens at the baptism, which was 
repeated at the transfiguration. To his 

118 



THE GOODNESS OF JESUS 

enemies he said: "Which of you can convict 
me of sin?" (John 8. 46). To his disciples 
he said, "The prince of this world cometh, and 
hath nothing in me" (John 14. 30). He re- 
futed the charge that he was in league with 
Beelzebul, and claimed instead that he had 
bound that strong one. 

There are four significant facts about the Four 
gospel records which bear on this question of o^pdScts 
the goodness of Jesus. One is that, though he 
taught his disciples to pray, though he himself 
prayed in their presence, though he also 
prayed for them, he never prayed with them. 
This very striking fact seems to suggest there 
was a communion between him and God into 
which no other human being could enter. A 
second fact is that, though he taught the 
disciples to confess their sins and to pray for 
forgiveness, there is no record that he ever 
confessed sin or prayed for forgiveness. A 
third fact is that Jesus never impresses us 
during his public work as seeking for the 
truth, as do Socrates, and all leaders of men, 
but as always being in possession of the truth. 
To others he said, "Seek, and ye shall find"; 
of himself he said, "I am the truth." One 
looks in vain into the life of Jesus for any 
hint that he ever aspired to be anything dif- 
ferent from what he was. The fourth fact is 

119 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 



His Oneness 
with the 
Father 



His Unique 
Consciousness 



the absence of all sign of compunction of con- 
science or sense of mistake. His appears to 
have been a sense of unbroken union with the 
will of God. Yet this is something which he 
"learned," into which he progressed. 

These four facts, as well as his words about 
himself drawn from him naturally by circum- 
stances, throw great light on his assertion of 
oneness with the Father. He claimed to be 
fully human — "Son of man" — and yet in com- 
plete harmony with the Father — "Son of 
God." Jesus nowhere says "I am God," or 
"I am good as God is good," or "I am abso- 
lutely good," or words implying any of these 
things. He says distinctly to the young man 
who addressed him as "Good Master," "Why 
callest thou me good? none is good, save one, 
that is, God." His claim was he did the 
Father's will. His thought was practical, not 
metaphysical. 

At this point it is important to stress the 
uniqueness of this consciousness of Jesus in 
relation to God in contrast with other men. 
David, Isaiah, Ezra, Paul cry out for deliver- 
ance from sin, but not Jesus. In fact, with 
other men, the better they become, the more 
they are afflicted with the sense of sin. Not 
so Jesus. It is also important to note that 
this contrast impressed itself upon some of 

120 



THE GOODNESS OF JESUS 

his contemporaries in the same way. It is the 
same John in the same first letter who says 
these two positive things : "In him is no sin," 
and "If we say 'We are not guilty/ we are de- 
ceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us." 

Was Jesus, then, conscious of being without His conscience 
sin? We may raise three possible alternative J offense 
questions. Are the records sufficiently com- 
plete to warrant us in so saying? May he not 
have deceived himself in so thinking? May 
he not have known sin without being humbled 
by it? The last question, if seriously asked, 
is an insult. The answer to the first question 
is that the existent records are explicit on this 
point. To the second question we may observe 
that it is hardly probable that a mind so clear 
on all spiritual issues should have been so 
clouded on one of the fundamentals. We con- 
clude that Jesus was conscious of being in 
complete harmony with the will of God, that 
those who knew him best so regarded him, 
that no charge of his ancient enemies or 
modern critics fairly weighed is clearly con- 
vincing to the contrary, and that the Chris- 
tian consciousness has consequently been 
justified in affirming the sinlessness of Christ. 
This is the Christ as presented by the Gospels. 
What fault, if any, do you sincerely find in 
Jesus? 

121 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 

Minor Place Yet we should be far removed from the con- 

of the Dogma sciousness of Jesus if we made a do£ina of his 

of Sinlessness ° 

sinlessness, and rested there. Practical cir- 
cumstances wrung out of him, so to speak, his 
sense of performing the mission assigned to 
him in the world without lapse or failure. 
His emphasis was never placed on his personal 
attainments, which might have proven a fault 
itself, but on his mission in the world and his 
commission from the Father. His emphasis 
was on the abundant life he came to give to 
man from God, not on doctrines about himself 
as the medium of such blessing. 
Doing and In the light of the foregoing we can have no 

Saying reasonable doubt about the personal goodness 

of Jesus as an ideal for man. His life at every 
point was behind the lofty standards of con- 
duct he upraised. First he did, then he taught. 
3. Recognition of Personal Goodness in His 
Teaching. What recognition of personal good- 
ness do we find in his teaching? Every ex- 
perience he had, every virtue he exemplified, 
except hope alone, find a place in his explicit 
teaching. Though he begot in men a "lively 
Hope hope" by providing objects of hope, namely, 

future life and fellowship with the Father 
and himself, yet, so far as our incomplete 
evangels go, he nowhere specifically commends 
hope. Faith and love, however, have full 

122 



THE GOODNESS OF JESUS 

recognition. It is possible that Jesus, pre- 
senting himself as the fulfillment of the great 
Messianic hope, had no occasion to quicken 
hope in his followers. Him they had, why 
hope? Perhaps this viewpoint is reflected in 
his saying to the disciples: "There will come 
days when we will long, and long in vain, to 
have even one day of the Son of man" (Luke 
17. 22). 

A few of his teachings may be recalled to His words 
show how his life was reflected in his words. hislL 
His own temptations were behind his injunc- 
tions to "watch and pray, lest ye enter into 
temptation," and the prayer he taught his dis- 
ciples, "Lead us not into temptation." His 
own struggles are reflected in the words: 
"Strive to enter in at the strait gate." His 
own abounding love is behind the two com- 
mandments in the law he selected as greatest. 
Obedience he recognizes in the saying, follow- 
ing the quotation of certain commandments, 
"Do that and you will live." Self-control is 
so important that it is worth securing at the 
cost of the offending eye or hand. Self-denial 
is laid down as one of the conditions of being 
one of his followers : "Let him deny himself." 
Sincerity is demanded in the giving of alms 
and in prayer and in the caution : "Beware 
of the leaven of the Pharisees." Loyalty and 

123 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 

faithfulness were taught by the lesson of Lot's 
wife, not turning back from the plow, and one 
of his favorite phrases, "good and faithful 
servant." Courage he taught in the words: 
"Fear not them that can kill the body," 
coupled with the admonition to fear him who 
had power of life and death over both soul 
and body. Patience receives the commenda- 
tion of being the method whereby we possess 
our souls. The homely but indispensable 
virtue of prudence is embodied in two para- 
bles, namely, the unjust steward and the ten 
virgins. Humility he taught by object-lesson 
in the washing of the disciples' feet, as well 
as in the direction to take the lower seats at 
a feast. Consideration for others has found 
final expression in the Golden Rule. Endur- 
ance to the end is required of the saved. The 
dignity of human life is taught in such say- 
ings as : "Man is of more value than a sheep," 
"The very hairs of your head are numbered," 
"Ye are of more value than many sparrows" ; 
even the whole world is outweighed by the 
human soul. Self-sacrifice and its rewards are 
included in the promise that those who forsake 
relatives and lands for the Kingdom shall 
receive manifold more here and life everlast- 
ing hereafter. Even the symmetry of his life 
and an absolute standard are held as an ideal 

124 



THE GOODNESS OF JESUS 

before his followers in the words : "You must 
be perfect as your heavenly Father is per- 
fect." Thus all through we can hear what 
Jesus says because what he was has so un- 
stopped our ears. 

Goodness, we saw, is vocational, personal, 
and social. We have now seen how Jesus 
exemplified and recognized vocational and 
personal goodness, and so next it remains to 
consider 

III. The Social Goodness of Jesus 

By the social goodness of Jesus we mean Meaning of 
his influence in improving human society. Goodness 
Personal goodness involves integrity of indi- 
vidual character; social goodness involves 
right relationship to one's fellows. As person- 
ally good, one stands in immediate relation- 
ship to God as revealed within oneself; as 
socially good, one stands in mediate relation- 
ship to God as revealed within others. Good- 
ness, whether personal or social, ultimately 
involves divine relationship. Jesus himself 
was unwilling that we should think of love to 
God apart from love to man; thus he kept 
Christianity closely associated with social 
morality, and free from asceticism and mysti- 
cism, each of which involves a withdrawal of 
the individual from his fellows. The thought 

125 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 

of Jesus receives a practical extension in the 
words of the best-loved disciple, John, as fol- 
lows : "He who does not love his brother man 
whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he 
has not seen" (Weymouth Tr.). Social good- 
ness is effectiveness in bringing to pass the 
reign of God among men, involving all forms 
of improving the relations of human beings to 
each other. Personal goodness apart from 
social goodness is abstract, as social goodness 
apart from personal goodness is hollow. 
Distinguishing Among the personal traits that signalize 
sllil^TTaits Jesus we should have to include his love of 
of jesus nature, especially elevated points, and his love 

of solitude. Without doubt these qualities 
are associated with his sense of the Father's 
presence. Among the social traits that signal- 
ize Jesus we should have to include his love 
of little children and his fondness for the com- 
pany of women, whom he admitted to intimate 
fellowship and service. He blessed little chil- 
dren, regarded them as a type of the Kingdom, 
taught his disciples not to offend or despise 
them, and evidently felt a kind of religious 
awe in their presence, saying, "Their angels 
in heaven always look on the face of my 
Father in heaven" (Matt. 18. 10). That he 
should converse with a woman, especially one 
of mean reputation, or allow interruption 

126 



THE GOODNESS OF JESUS 

from mothers eager for his blessing on their 
children, was a matter of marvel to his disci- 
ples. In fact, these personal and social traits 
do not so stand out in our days of the love 
of nature and democracy, in our world partly 
remolded by Christianity, as at first. Even in 
the eighteenth century, Rousseau, with his 
love of nature, solitude, and little children, 
was the prophet of a social revolution. 

One of the striking contrasts in the charac- h»s Love of 
ter of Christ is his love of solitude and his ^^^, 
love of companionship. Both qualities appear 
in close conjunction in the agony in the gar- 
den, when he prays alone, yet returns to his 
intimate disciples with the longing for human 
fellowship. 

1. The Friends of Jesus. Among his friends 
we find John the Baptist, who regarded him- 
self as "the friend of the bridegroom" ; the 
twelve disciples; publicans and sinners, Jesus 
being known by the respectable classes as a 
friend of these; Lazarus, Mary, and Martha 
in the Bethany home; and certain unknown 
persons, including him who provided the colt 
for Palm Sunday, and the upper room for the 
last passover supper. 

As we study the relations of Jesus with His Entrance 
these friends, a number of things stand out, ^endship 
all showing his highly developed social dis- 

127 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 

position and insight. He saw and highly com- 
mended the strong points in John the Baptist, 
though affirming any figure of violence was 
not fully representative of the Kingdom. To 
the twelve he gave himself in training, making 
them witnesses, each in his own way. With 
the publicans and sinners he mingled freely, 
though not stooping to their level, giving and 
forgiving, and receiving homage, thus scan- 
dalizing the Pharisees. "Our friend Lazarus" 
he restored to his weeping sisters. To Mary 
he imparted his best and to Martha he gave a 
better perspective of life. 
Reciprocity in The friendships of Jesus were characterized 
by that reciprocity so highly esteemed by Con- 
fucius. One of the disciples of Confucius, Taz- 
kung, once asked him: "Is there one word 
upon which the whole life may proceed?" To 
which Confucius replied: "Is not reciprocity 
such a word? — what you do not yourself de- 
sire, do not put before others." Here is the 
negative note characteristic of the Confucian 
statement of the Golden Rule. In the reci- 
procity characteristic of the friendships of 
Jesus he gave himself in revelation, moral con- 
straint, and final sacrifice and received in turn 
a measure of understanding, sympathy, and 
support. He gave himself to them in revela- 
tion, calling them not servants but friends, 

128 



Friendship 



THE GOODNESS OF JESUS 

because all things he heard from his Father 
he made known unto them. He gave himself 
to them in moral constraint, claiming them 
indeed as friends if they did all things what- 
soever he commanded them. He gave himself 
to them also in sacrifice, exemplifying his own 
teaching: "To lay life down for his friends, 
man has no greater love than that." In re- 
turn, they understood him in a measure as 
the Messiah, three of them entered sympa- 
thetically into his glory on the Mount of 
Transfiguration, and three of them extended 
a measure of support in his sorrow in the 
garden. He had chosen them "that they might 
be with him" (Mark 3. 14) first, and then that 
he might "send them." He was dependent on 
them for the continuance of his work. With 
clinging pathos, when family and other friends 
are misunderstanding and leaving him, he 
asks, "Will ye also go away?" The report 
of success by the seventy caused him to rejoice 
in the Holy Spirit. They too as "the sons of 
the bride-chamber" rejoiced in his presence. 
They gave all they could in return for his 
love, which loved on to the end, but it was a 
poor return after all. They were thinking 
about what they should receive, what places 
of prominence they should occupy, the use of 
force in spreading his Kingdom, and the ad^ 

129 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 

vent of a temporal reign of Jesus. They for- 
bade others to do mighty works in his name, 
they would call down fire from heaven on his 
adversaries. In the person of their spokes- 
man, who had been the confessor of his Mes- 
siahship, they even tempted him to renounce 
the path of suffering. One of them finally 
betrayed him. And eventually, though hav- 
ing proclaimed their courageous loyalty, "they 
all forsook him and fled." 
ms Response Of such human stuff were his chosen friends 

FrielrsnTp 88 ^ made ' TheV S aVe nim their P 00r beSt He 

in turn for their weakness never took personal 
offense, but set their stumbling minds to work 
with patient questioning: "Do you not see, 
do you not understand even yet? Are you 
still dull of heart? You have eyes, do you 
not see? You have ears, do you not hear? 
Do you not remember ?" (Mark 8. 17, 18.) The 
occasion for these questions was his caution 
against the leaven of the Pharisees and of 
Herod, which they mistook as a rebuke for 
not having any bread. When they were afraid 
in the storm, he said, "Have ye not yet faith?" 
When they asked for an explanation of the 
parable about ceremonial and real defilement, 
he said, "Are ye also even yet without under- 
standing?" To Peter, asleep in the garden 
during his Master's agonizing prayer, Jesus 

130 



THE GOODNESS OF JESUS 

says, using his old name, "Are you sleeping, 
Simon? Could you not watch for a single 
hour?" After the denial, Jesus only turned 
and looked upon Peter. Judas he faithfully 
warned, not calling him by name : "One of you 
is a devil"; "One of you shall betray me." 
Such a friend was he ! In Jesus's day the term 
"friend" was a form of common salutation 
("Friend, I do thee no harm"), and also was 
applicable to neighbors and relatives ("Go 
home to thy friends" ) ; Jesus made it a bond 
of spiritual union. 

Passing from his life of friendship to his His Teaching 
teaching about friendship, we note a number Friendship 
of things. Our social relations must not be 
limited to the circle of our friends. "When Friendship 
thou makest a dinner or a feast, do not habitu- E-JJuLve 
ally call [the force of the verb is restrictive, 
not prohibitive] thy friends, nor thy brethren, 
nor thy kinsmen, nor rich neighbors; lest 
haply they also bid thee again, and a recom- 
pense be made thee. But when thou makest 
a feast, bid the poor, the maimed, the lame, 
the blind : and thou shalt be blessed." We are 
to be friends to our friends, friends to our 
neighbors, as taught by the parable of the good 
Samaritan, and friends even to our enemies, 
whom we are enjoined to love and for whom 
we are to pray. The relation of friendship is, 

131 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 



Use Material 
Blessings 
to Make 
Friends 



Formal 
Friendships 



Emotional 
Basis of 
Expressions of 
Friendship 



Friendship 
Less 

Dependable 
Than Divine 
Communion 



in fact, included within the larger relation of 
love. 

Our material blessings, he taught, should 
be utilized in making friends, so that perish- 
able things become the means of establishing 
imperishable relationships. This was the com- 
mendable prudence of the unjust steward. 
"And I tell you, use mammon, dishonest as it 
is, to make friends for yourselves, so that when 
you die they may welcome you to the eternal 
abodes." 

What shall we say of the friend who would 
not lend his friend three loaves of bread as an 
expression of friendship, but only as a conces- 
sion to his importunity? There is a poor type 
of friendship that cannot stand personal dis- 
comfort for a friend's sake, that renders a 
disagreeable service only to avoid a greater 
discomfort. This is a friendship in form 
rather than in fact. 

The emotion of joy in the recovery of lost 
objects is an occasion for calling together 
one's friends. So did the man who had found 
his lost sheep, and so did the woman who had 
found the lost coin, and so did the father who 
received again the lost son. The sharing of 
emotion is a natural expression of friendship. 

Human friendship, he taught, is subordinate 
to Divine Fellowship. "You will be scattered 

132 



THE GOODNESS OF JESUS 

to your homes and shall leave me alone: and 
yet I am not alone, because the Father is with 
me." Human friendship could not go all the 
way with him. The elder son in the parable 
of the prodigal son had missed the fellowship 
of his father in his secret longing for merry- 
making and feasting with his friends. The 
friendship of man is less than the friendship 
of God. Jesus, by being a friend to man, has 
made man a friend of God. 

Friendship is immortal, taught Jesus. "I immortality of 
call you not servants, I call you friends. . . . Fnendship 
I go to prepare a place for you, . . . that where 
I am there ye may be also." As the Father 
had sent him, so sent he them. As the Father 
and he were one, so he prayed that his friends 
too might be one with him and the Father. 
Human friendships are sublimated in the 
unity of the divine family. 

Illustrating his own views of friendship, jesusas 
Jesus entered joyously upon all social occa- 
sions, carrying with him the sense of the 
superior spiritual life. He was the guest of 
honor at the "great feast" of Matthew Levi, 
he ate bread on a Sabbath in the house of one 
of the rulers of the Pharisees, he attended a 
wedding in Cana of Galilee with his disciples, 
and he loved the inmates of the home in Beth- 
any. On each occasion it came about natu- 

133 



Truly Good 
Company 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 



Hie 

Friendliness 
a Part of His 
Social 
Goodness 



His 
Organizing 

Ability 



rally that -memorable words were spoken. 
Did the company cease to laugh in his pres- 
ence? It was at the feast of Matthew that 
Jesus likened himself and his company of 
disciples to the bridegroom and his com- 
panions. "Can friends at a wedding fast, 
while the bridegroom is beside them?" One 
of his Beatitudes was that those who wept 
should laugh (Luke 6. 21). His message .was 
"good news." It bade men "rejoice and be 
exceeding glad/' and even "leap for joy," and 
assured them their joy "no one taketh away." 

2. His Qualities as a Social Worker. Such 
was Jesus in his life and teaching as re- 
gards human friendships and associations. 
It is a light and bright side of his social good- 
ness. As a full man he lived his life among 
men for men. On the lighter as well as on 
the serious side of social life he did not fall 
short. "Master, where dwellest thou?" "Come 
and see." How companionable! No doubt 
the social graces of Jesus, radiating happi- 
ness and blessing, contributed essentially to 
the success of his human ministry. 

To his large and serious social mission of 
revealing the Father God to man he brought, 
in addition to friendliness, certain other quali- 
ties characteristic of the social worker. He 
had initiative and executive ability. Two in- 

134 



THE GOODNESS OF JESUS 

stitutions he initiated which have survived 
the tooth of time: one his church, and the 
other the Eucharist. On the rock of faith in 
his Messiahship professed by Peter, he, the 
master carpenter, built his church, and the 
gates of hell have not been able to prevail 
against it. The memorial meal he instituted 
in connection with the passover feast the night 
he was betrayed has symbolized his broken 
body and shed blood throughout all the inter- 
vening generations. These two social institu- 
tions, built on fellowship of the spirit with 
each other and personal loyalty to himself, 
reveal his constructive imagination, his social 
initiative, and his organizing ability. 

As a social worker he both worked himself His vision 
and he set others to work. Vision, passion, 
and action — these three characterize his 
social goodness. They were the "light, heat, 
and power" of his life. Vision he had of the 
leavening process of the Kingdom permeating 
finally the social whole, and of the other sheep 
belonging to him not of this fold ; and of men 
coming from the four quarters to sit down 
within the Kingdom; and of his witnesses 
going into all the world, preaching the gospel 
to every creature and teaching the observation 
of his commands; and of his own glorious 
return in the spirit; and of the separating 

135 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 



His Passion for 
Service 



His Activity 



process that should go on between sheep and 
goats, and final blessedness and misery of all 
people according to the kind of life they had 
led; and of himself as the test and standard 
by which lives are adjudged. It was a vision 
that has captivated Western imagination and 
consecrated Western effort. 

Passion too for service he had. On the 
multitude he had compassion. He was strait- 
ened until his mission was accomplished. The 
harvest to him was plenteous, but the laborers 
few. Fatigue kept him not from instructing 
a darkened woman's soul. He felt constrained 
to go through Samaria. Repeatedly he must 
needs go also into the next towns. Even his 
meat was to accomplish his Father's will. The 
sense of the greatness of his work and the 
shortness of his time lay heavy upon him. The 
night was in the act of coming when no man 
can work. He left all to fulfill his mission — 
home, vocation, relatives, friends — and with- 
out money and without price ministered where 
the need was greatest. 

To vision and passion he added action. 
He worked, he went about doing good; he 
healed bodies and souls, likening his work to 
that of the physician who is needed by the 
sick; he taught individuals and groups; he 
mingled with all classes and conditions of 

136 



THE GOODNESS OF JESUS 

men, without, however, lowering his standard 
or compromising his ideals; he trained those 
who should continue his work after his early 
death, which he foresaw ; prudently he avoided 
the final issue till all things were ready, then 
he lay down his life of himself in devotion to, 
and in illustration of, his principles, with the 
sense at the end that it, the great work com- 
mitted to him, was finished. His was a life 
of action, unhurried, unresting, unceasing. 

He set others to work. The man from whom He set others 
the legion of devils was cast out he sent home to Work 
to his friends to tell them what great things 
the Lord had done for him. Andrew when 
called was moved first to find his brother of 
"the precipitate will." The woman of Samaria 
became an evangelist. He changed the careers 
of twelve men. Seventy at one time he sent 
out on errands of mercy, two by two, to pre- 
pare the way for his coming. Finally he gave 
"the great commission." Admission to the 
Kingdom did not consist in saying "Lord, 
Lord," to him, but in doing his Father's will. 
Such were some of the traits of Jesus as a 
social worker. 

3. His Social Teachings. The life of social 
service Jesus lived among men has probably 
exceeded the influence of the specific social 
teachings he gave in transforming human so- 

137 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 

ciety. Still, the greatest interest attaches to 
those teachings, especially in view of the reign 
of individualistic thinking from the time of 
the Renaissance till the middle of the nine- 
teenth century, and of the growing recognition 
of their social responsibility on the part of 
the modern churches. In 1849 F. D. Maurice 
began a series of tracts on Christian Social- 
ism, while modern economic and political so- 
cialism, arising partly through the relative 
failure of the churches to perform their social 
mission, have many points of affiliation with 
both the letter of Scripture and past practices 
of the Christian community, for example, 
voluntary communism. 
The Question Our present question is, What recognition 
of social goodness do we find in the teachings 
of Jesus? This is a very large question in 
itself. Many books in our day have been 
written in answer to it alone, including works 
by Rauschenbusch, Peabody, Jenks, Gladden, 
Nash, Montgomery, Thorns, and others. One 
may truly say that the social emphasis domi- 
nates Christian thinking to-day. The Chris- 
tian Church is convinced by long experience 
that Jesus can give wholeness of life to, that 
is, "save" the individual. The greatest ques- 
tion perhaps that faces the Christian Church 
to-day is, Can Jesus save society? The past 

13S 



THE GOODNESS OP JESUS 

three years have put new urgency into the 
question, revealing as they have the pitiably 
incomplete life of human beings in their so- 
cial relations to each other on the earth. 
Our discussion to follow, though brief, will 
probably indicate to us that there is equal 
potency in Jesus for saving society and the 
individual, that the salvation of society is a 
part of the original dynamic of the gospel, 
and that the great need to-day is to practice 
the social aspects of the gospel. 

A distinction should be made at the outset individual 
between individual and social salvation. By Nation 
individual salvation we mean fullness of life 
for the individual. By social salvation we 
mean fullness of life for society, that is, for 
men in their relations to each other. Indi- 
vidual salvation emphasizes personality; so- 
cial salvation emphasizes the relation of per- 
sonalities to each other, and the influence on 
personality of the social and physical environ- 
ment. A little thinking will clearly show that 
there are no individuals out of social relations 
and that there is no society apart from indi- 
viduals in mutual relationship ; so that, really, 
there are reciprocal influences between the 
individual and society. This means that a 
saved individual will help save society, and 
that a saved society will help save individuals. 

139 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 

It also means that an individual cannot have 
wholeness of life in an unsaved society and 
also that society cannot have wholeness of 
life with unsaved individuals in it. Of course 
all life, both individual and social, is fluid, 
dynamic, and on the whole progressive; salva- 
tion itself is the process of growth into full- 
ness of life, and at any moment is only a 
matter of degree. Both individuals and so- 
ciety to-day are saved only in part. But the 
social part of the process has lagged somewhat 
behind the individual part. This means that 
groups and nations in dealing with each other 
fall below the standard of private individuals. 
Usually and roughly, the larger and less 
familiar with each other the groups are, the 
lower the standards. So it comes about, as 
Professor Ross says, we are "sinning by syndi- 
cate." 

What, then, do we find in the teachings of 
Jesus in recognition of social goodness? Our 
abbreviated answer to this question will indi- 
cate (1) some of the main social topics Jesus 
treated, (2) the principles significant for so- 
cial reform upon which he relied, and (3) his 
teaching that the gospel is social, 
social Themes Among the social topics for which the teach- 
of jesus - n g g o j, j egllgj interpreting his own life of 

social service among men, are significant may 

140 



THE GOODNESS OF JESUS 

be included : the home, marriage and divorce ; 
the school and principles of teaching ; the state, 
war and crime; civil society, labor, poverty, 
and wealth; religious authority and observa- 
tion of the Sabbath; the kingdom of heaven 
and missions; and the principles of social re- 
form. Jesus treats these themes not sys- 
tematically but as they naturally arise upon 
occasion. His nearest approach to systematic 
exposition of a theme is in the Sermon on the 
Mount, if indeed this be a single discourse, 
in which is outlined the new kingdom of 
heaven. Into the details of these topics our 
present lack of space forbids us to go. 1 It is 
enough for our present purpose to indicate 
that a society reconstructed in accordance 
with the social teachings of Jesus would be 
built on the universal principle of love; that 
its central institution would be the home, 
unmarred by divorce, save for the cause of 
fornication, if, indeed, for that; the rights of 
children as members of the kingdom of heaven 
would be respected in home, school, and fac- 
tory; states could not permanently abide war 
as a mode of settling controversy, and would 
find the best in criminals and appeal to that; 
labor would be dignified and suitably re- 

1 Compare the author's book, Modern Problems as 
Jesus Saw Them. 

141 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 

warded; the money of the rich would be at 
the service of the needs of the human brother- 
hood ; the poor would be helped not to beg but 
to stand upright on their feet (Acts 14. 10) 
and walk ; religious authority would center in 
the individual soul in relationship to God ; the 
Sabbath would be used not to abstain from 
doing things but to do things helpful to man, 
and the kingdom of heaven would come on 
earth as the reign of God in the hearts of men. 
Into such a society would there not come full- 
ness of life? 
Principles of Let us next turn briefly to the second mat- 

AcTordSlf to™ ter > nam ely, the principles significant for so- 
Jesus cial reform upon which Jesus relied. Among 

these are : there is a kingdom of heaven, spirit- 
ual, not temporal, membership in which is 
constituted by the rule of God in the indi- 
vidual heart, by doing the will of God on earth 
as it is done in heaven; this kingdom is at 
hand and is in process of becoming as leaven 
works through the whole lump of dough, or as 
the mustard seed grows into the greatest of 
all trees ; by membership in the Kingdom men 
who are already natural brothers become 
also spiritual brothers; God is the heavenly 
Father of all; the worth of the individual 
soul, whether man, woman, or child, is un- 
limited; and the renewed individual will re- 

142 



THE GOODNESS OF JESUS 

new society, as it is by persons witnessing 
to the truth, not by programs embodying 
specific demands, that the Kingdom is to come. 
We see from these principles of social reform 
that Jesus had in mind not merely the social 
objectives of the gospel, but also the practical 
means for their attainment. That these means 
are reliable, the course of human history for 
the past twenty centuries, though not consist- 
ently relying upon them, is witness. The 
social lump is gradually, though not with 
equal progress at all times, being leavened. 

In the third place, Jesus really taught that jesus Taught 
the gospel is social, though the full signifi- ^Jf 085 * 118 
cance of this teaching has been hidden from 
some generations in the past and even from 
many people of the present. That the "pure 
gospel" is really an applied gospel, that the 
individual gospel is also a social gospel, is 
clearly evidenced by the following four in- 
stances of the teaching of Jesus : the first ser- 
mon in Nazareth, the message to John, the 
mission of the twelve, and the judgment scene. 
The text from Isaiah of his first sermon in The pirn 
Nazareth, where he had been brought up, fol- NaweuT 
lowing his baptism and temptation, which he 
claimed as fulfilled in himself in the presence 
of his relatives and old friends, is instinct 
with social dynamic, as follows: "The spirit 

143 



JESUS— OUR STANDABD 

of the Lord is upon me, for he has consecrated 
me to preach the gospel to the poor, he has 
sent me to proclaim release for captives, and 
recovery of sight for the blind, to set free the 
oppressed, to proclaim the Lord's year of 
favor" (Moffatt Translation). 
Message to John the Baptist, hearing in prison from 

John kjg di sc ipi eg the kind of work Jesus was doing, 

not recognizing such lowly ministry as clearly 
indicative of the Messiah whose coming he 
had heralded, became confused in mind, and 
sent two of his disciples to Jesus to inquire: 
"Are you the coming One? Or are we to look 
out for some one else?" In the hour of their 
arrival Jesus in characteristic service was cur- 
ing many of diseases and plagues and evil 
spirits, and bestowing sight upon many that 
were blind. On hearing the question of the 
messengers, with full appreciation of the 
greatness of John, without answering cate- 
gorically, and reaffirming the social mission 
of the gospel, he said : "Go and report to John 
what you have seen and heard ; that the blind 
see, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the 
deaf hear, the dead are raised, and to the poor 
the gospel is preached. And blessed is he who 
is repelled by nothing in me." Unfortunately 
we do not know how John the Baptist received 
this message, upon which depended whether 

144 



THE GOODNESS OF JESUS 

he, than whom among those born of women 
a greater had not arisen, was himself a mem- 
ber of the Kingdom. 

Seeing the multitudes, realizing the great- Mission of the 
ness of the harvest and the fewness of the Twelve 
laborers, Jesus called unto him his twelve 
disciples, gave them authority over unclean 
spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all man- 
ner of disease, and, sending them forth two by 
two, gave them in part this charge: "And 
preach as you go, tell men "The reign of heaven 
is near.' Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse 
the lepers, cast out daemons; give without 
paying, as you have got without paying." He 
likewise appointed and sent forth seventy 
others into every city and place whither he 
himself was about to come, who in time re- 
turned and reported to him with joy: "Lord, 
even the devils are subject unto us through 
thy name." Here is evidence of the effective- 
ness of their social mission. 

Finally, the wonderful judgment scene indi- The Last 
cates that the goodness which survives is Judgment 
essentially social in character. The sheep on 
the right hand gave to eat to the hungry, gave 
drink to the thirsty, took in the stranger, 
clothed the naked, visited the sick, came unto 
the prisoner. The goats on the left hand did 
none of these things. Neither the righteous 

145 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 

nor the unrighteous recognized at the time 
their Lord in those in need. What more in 
addition to these four passages is requisite 
to show the recognition of social goodness in 
the teaching of Jesus? 

Questions concerning the ultimate interpre- 
tation of good and evil as suggested by Jesus, 
which naturally arise here, will be reserved 
for our treatment of his intellectuality. 

Thus at length we have completed the sur- 
vey of the life and teachings of Jesus in rela- 
tion to the second ideal of complete living, 
namely, goodness. We have seen how the 
three kinds of goodness — vocational, personal, 
and social — he both exemplified and recog- 
nized. 

This brings us to the consideration of Jesus 
and the third ideal of complete living, namely, 
beauty. 



146 



CHAPTER IV 

THE EMOTIONS OF JESUS 

"In the name of our God we will set up our 
banners." — Psalm 20. 5. 



CHAPTER IV 
THE EMOTIONS OF JESUS 

Our three chapters so far have first re- Retrospect 
viewed the ideals of complete living as physi- 
cal, moral, emotional, intellectual, and spirit- 
ual, and have then studied the physique and 
goodness of Jesus in connection with his recog- 
nition of the physical and moral ideals in his 
teaching. 

We have now to study the emotional life Prospect 
as experienced by Jesus and recognized by him 
in his teaching. In pursuing this theme we 
shall take account of the following rather long 
list of emotions : humor, joy, desire, love, love 
of nature, compassion, sympathy, sorrow, 
wonder, surprise, amazement, anger, indigna- 
tion, disappointment, gratitude, dependence, 
fear, and peace, as well as, more briefly, in- 
terest, reverence, exaltation, zeal, sensitive- 
ness, tenderness, shame, appreciation, and 
satisfaction. All of these emotional experi- 
ences Jesus had, except fear. We must not 
only describe the appearance of each emotion 

149 



JESUS— OUK STANDARD 

in the experience of Jesus, but also indicate 
his recognition of it in his teaching. Then 
we must draw our conclusion. This is a large 
outlay in itself. The field is comparatively un- 
worked, and very interesting and rewarding. 
None of our studies, unless it be that of his 
physique, will bring Jesus so near to our com- 
mon human lot. A spectral Christ is emotion- 
less, but Jesus is no spectral Christ. Let us 
follow only the clear record and its undoubted 
implications in our presentation and conclu- 
sion. 

I. His Sense of Humoe 

The traditional view of Jesus is that he 
wept, but never smiled. This is almost cer- 
tainly a mistake, as the evidence will indicate. 
Being a complete man, we should expect in 
advance that Jesus had along with other fully 
human endowments also the saving sense of 
humor. The facts also warrant this deduc- 
tion. Our English translation of the New 
Testament sometimes unavoidably conceals 
the presence of humor, 
piays on Thus Jesus really tells the busy Martha pre- 

paring her dishes for the meal that Mary has 
chosen the good portion which should not be 
taken away from her. He tells the fishermen 
Simon and Andrew at their labor to follow 

150 



Words 






THE EMOTIONS OF JESUS 

him and he will make them fishers of men. 
After the miraculous draught of fishes he tells 
Peter, James, and John that they shall catch 
men alive. He would leave the [spiritually] 
dead to bury their [physically] dead. His 
enemies can discern the signs of the heavens 
but not the signs of the times — said not only 
with a play on words but also with a touch 
of sarcasm. There is a play also on words of 
similar sound, or, as it is called, paronomasia, 
when he says to Simon, "Now I tell you, Peter 
[stone] is your name, and on this rock 
[petras] I will build my church." So Jesus, 
probably speaking the homely idiom of the 
Aramaic tongue, not always translatable into 
Greek, was not above playing on the meanings 
and sounds of words. 

There is humor too in his giving the brothers a smile in 
James and John, who would call down fire 
from heaven on an inhospitable Samaritan 
village, the nickname, Boanerges — "sons of 
thunder." We do not know who gave Thomas 
his nickname Didymus — "twin." Jesus must 
have felt the humor of the title "Benefactors" 
applied to the tyrannical and oppressive kings 
of the Gentiles, contrasting therewith great- 
ness in his Kingdom. One of the new sayings 
of Jesus : "Thou hearest with one ear, but the 
other thou hast closed," reveals a touch of 

151 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 



humor which enables us to see the same more 
readily in the familiar passages of the house 
divided against itself, Beelzebul at variance 
with himself, and serving two masters. Thus 
there is an unmistakable smile in his words 
which must also have gleamed in his eye and 
played across his countenance. 

Grim Humor Who can fail to detect the grim humor in 

the message to Herod: "Go ye and tell that 
fox, ... it cannot be that a prophet perish 
out of Jerusalem" ? The same appears in such 
figures as the blind leading the blind, having 
eyes but not seeing, and building one's house 
on the sand, especially when this figure is used 
by a worker in wood. The absurdity of the 
rich fooPs position is revealed by the cutting 
question, "Then whose shall those things be?" 
In the parable of the man who could not finish 
his tower, Jesus consciously depicts him as 
subject to the derisive mockery of his fellows. 

The Grotesque There are elements of grotesqueness, a phase 
of humor, in putting a light under a bushel, 
having a beam in one's eye, casting one's 
pearls before swine, gathering grapes of 
thorns and figs of thistles, cleaning only the 
outside of the cup, and giving one's child a 
stone for bread, a snake for a fish, or a scorpion 
for an egg. 

Hyperbole There is bold hyperbole in the swallowing 

152 



THE EMOTIONS OF JESUS 

of a camel, the camel going through the eye 
of a needle, and the stones by the roadside 
crying out. 

Having in mind the esteem in which the irony 
Pharisees held themselves, there is irony in 
the saying : "They that are whole [that is, the 
Pharisees] need not a physician." Likewise 
in these words: "Many good works have I 
showed you from the Father; for which of 
those works do ye stone me?" And in the 
prayer of the Pharisee, sarcasm mingles with 
irony: "God, I thank thee, that I am not as 
other men are." And in his comment on their 
traditions: "Praiseworthy indeed!" he added, 
"to set at nought God's commandment in order 
to observe your own traditions!" (Mark 7. 9, 
Weymouth Tr.). There is cutting irony in 
the reference to Dives, who "also died, and 
was buried." In view of the magnitude of the 
accomplishment, perhaps also in the words 
to the lawyer, "Do that and you will live" 
(Luke 10. 28). 

Gentle raillery as well as indignant pro- Ramery 
test at racial exclusiveness appears in his 
words to the Syrophoenician woman: "It is 
not meet to take the children's bread, and cast 
it to dogs." Likewise, in the words to the 
sleepers in the garden: "Sleep on now, and 
take your rest," but simple fact in the words 

153 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 

following : "Come, get up, here is my betrayer 
close at hand." 

wit He reduces the principle of loving only 

those that love you to absurdity by asking, 
"Do not even the publicans so?" — those whom 
you so detest? This personal thrust would 
not be lost on his hearers. There is the sharp- 
ness of wit in his retort: "If I by Beelzebul 
cast out daemons, by whom do your sons cast 
them out?" 

satire There is abundant scathing satire in his 

denunciations of the hypocrites, who "sound 
a trumpet" before giving alms, who are 
"whited sepulchers," "concealed tombs," 
"blind guides," self-righteous builders of 
sepulchers of the slain prophets. 

Humor is the perception of the unity of the 
incongruous. It involves an intellectual as 
well as an emotional element. Is there not 
sufficient evidence that Jesus had the sense of 
humor? 

II. The Gospel of Joy 

From the sense of humor we turn naturally 
to the emotion of joy. Fifty-nine times in the 
New Testament the word for chastened and 
restrained joy, or its equivalent, occurs. The 
angels had announced to the shepherds at the 
birth of Jesus "the good tidings of great joy." 

154 



THE EMOTIONS OF JESUS 

When Mary came to Elisabeth following the 
annunciation of the angel, the babe in Elisa- 
beth's womb "leaped for joy." John later de- 
scribed himself as the friend who rejoiced 
greatly at the bridegroom's voice. Mary's 
spirit rejoiced in God her Saviour. 

Following the account of the return of the The joy of 
seventy, Luke says (10. 21) of Jesus, "He Jesus 
thrilled with joy at that hour in the Holy 
Spirit," apparently manifesting his joy by 
outward signs. The disciples of Jesus did not 
fast as did those of John, the reason being 
that the sons of the bridechamber had in Jesus 
the Bridegroom with them. Jesus sharply 
distinguished between the asceticism of John, 
who came neither eating nor drinking, and the 
festival message of the Son of man, who came 
eating and drinking. Jesus attended a wed- 
ding and was a guest at social meals repeat- 
edly. Zacchaeus received him joyfully in his 
home. He watched with interest the play 
of children, and he loved children. His pres- 
ence was welcome to the people on the first 
Palm Sunday and to the children crying 
"Hosanna" in the temple. The occasion of 
the rejoicing of Jesus in the Holy Spirit was 
the victorious return of the seventy, and its 
cause that it had been well-pleasing to the 
Father to hide these things from the wise and 

155 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 

understanding and to reveal them unto babes. 
So Jesus felt and expressed joy, and also by 
his presence communicated joy to others. 

4< My joy» He also refers specifically to "my joy." He 

told his disciples about the vine, the branches, 
and the husbandman "that my joy may be 
within you, and your joy complete." He 
speaks certain things in prayer "that they 
may have my joy complete within them" 
(John 17. 13). Their sorrow at the coming 
separation should be turned into joy, for he 
would see them again, and their heart would 
rejoice, and their joy no one would take from 
them. 

The Kingdom The Kingdom as he pictures it is character- 
ized by joy. Fasting was not to be accom- 
panied by a sad countenance. With joy one 
sells all and buys the hid treasure. As the 
woman rejoices in finding the lost coin, the 
shepherd in finding the lost sheep, the father 
in finding the lost son, so there is joy in the 
presence of the angels of God over one sinner 
that repenteth. The Kingdom is likened to a 
wedding supper. The apostles are to rejoice 
not so much because devils are subject unto 
them, but because their names are written in 
heaven. Even persecution is a ground for leap- 
ing with joy. Those who mourn are blessed, 
for they shall laugh. Faithful servants shall 

156 



Joyful 



THE EMOTIONS OF JESUS 

enter into the joy of their Lord, that is, in- 
creased responsibility and usefulness. Thus 
the gospel is joyful tidings. Jesus himself re- 
joiced. He communicated joy to friends and 
disciples, and he gave the kingdom the stamp 
of joy. "Be of good cheer/' he admonishes; 
"I have overcome the world." 

Longing desire Jesus also felt and ex- Longing 
pressed. The Last Supper had been for him 
an object of eager and glad anticipation. 
"With desire I have desired to eat this pass- 
over with you before I suffer." He promises 
only an interruption, not a cessation, of those 
happy personal relationships. He would not 
again drink of the fruit of the vine until that 
day when he should drink it new with them 
in his Father's kingdom. 

III. His Love of Persons and Nature 

The heart of Jesus went out in love to both 
man and nature. Five persons outside the 
immediate family of Jesus are mentioned as 
objects of his affection — three men and two 
women: the disciple John, the rich young 
ruler, Lazarus, Martha, and Mary. John was 
"that disciple whom Jesus loved." Jesus, 
looking on the rich young ruler, seeing his 
youth, earnestness, and goodness, loved him. 
Lazarus was the brother of Martha and Mary, 

157 



About Love 



JESUS— OUK STANDARD 

all members of the Bethany household, be- 
loved by Jesus. Even the Jews testified, see- 
ing the sorrow of Jesus at the grave of Laza- 
rus: "See how he loved him!" In addition, 
Jesus loved the company of the disciples, and 
"having loved his own which were in the 
world, he loved them unto the end." Jesus 
loved Jerusalem, whose children he would 
have gathered as a hen gathereth her brood 
under her wings at night. From his readiness 
and willingness to serve every person in need, 
his love must have gone out also to all men. 
His Teaching In harmony with his own love for all, he 
taught a universal love. The great command- 
ment in the law was the love of God. The 
second, which could not be divorced from the 
first, was the love of man, the love of one's 
neighbor as oneself. The parable of the good 
Samaritan defines one's neighbor as any per- 
son in distress, even a member of a despised 
mixed race. Even one's enemy is to be loved. 
He gave a new commandment of love to his 
disciples, that they should love one another as 
he had loved them. He required that he him- 
self should be loved by his followers more than 
any family or other earthly tie. The test of 
such love he made the keeping of his com- 
mandments. Three times he secured an ex- 
pression of Peter's love, and three times 

158 



Nature 



THE EMOTIONS OF JESUS 

assigned him the proper task of love — feeding 
his sheep and lambs. From the self-sacrificing 
love that Jesus exemplified, laying down his 
life for his friends, and from the first place 
that he assigned love in both the great and the 
new commandments, it is clear that again 
Saint Paul transcribes the mind of Christ in 
making love the "more excellent way" of the 
gospel. In fact, the gospel is love, uniting 
God, Christ, and man in reciprocal bonds. 

Jesus loved nature as well as man. Alti- His Love of 
tude and solitude he especially sought, finding 
God there in meditation and prayer. The 
high mountain, the wilderness, the desert 
place had no terrors for him. Like a sensitive 
poet he received impressions from nature only 
to give them forth again clothed with aesthetic 
emotional expression — such as sowing and 
reaping ; seed-time and harvest ; day and night ; 
labor and rest; the grass of the field; the 
birds of the air — pigeons, partridges, finches, 
and bulbuls; the lilies, perhaps the scarlet- 
colored anemones, with which the hillsides of 
Galilee abound; perhaps also the tulips and 
poppies; pearls; mint, anise, and cummin; the 
sparrows, into the tragedy of whose lives his 
sympathetic imagination penetrated ; the 
holes of the foxes; the four kinds of soils; 
the blowing wind and its mystery ; the ravens 

159 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 

which feed without sowing and reaping; 
lambs and sheep, mentioned thirty-six times 
in the Gospels ; the crowing cock ; the mother- 
ing hen ; the sympathetic dogs ; the wild beasts 
of the wilderness of temptation, not lions, but 
leopards, wolves, panthers, and jackals; the 
ravening wolves ; the eagles at the carcass ; the 
harmless doves; the common diet of bread 
and fish; the wise yet spiteful and venomous 
serpents and vipers; the undying worm of 
corruption; the small gnat; the large camel; 
the ravaging moth — all these and more en- 
tered into his teaching. With an observant 
eye he caught the pageant of nature and tran- 
scribed it in living words. He loved the natu- 
ral and the real; they all had inner meaning 
for him, and he made them significant of 
spiritual realities for others. 

IV. His Compassion 

Akin to the love of Jesus for nature and 
man are his compassion, sympathy, sorrow, 
and even anguish. Though humor, joy, and 
love were indeed his, as we have seen, he was 
also the "Man of Sorrows." 
The The cry, "Have mercy" frequently greeted 

of°je^ SMm the ears of Jesus. And he did have mercy, he 
was moved with compassion, he did exercise 
pity, upon those who besought him and also 

160 



THE EMOTIONS OF JESUS 

upon others. Specified objects of his compas- 
sion are a leper; the widow of Nain; the two 
blind men of Jericho, of whom Bartimseus was 
one; the Gerasene demoniac; and the multi- 
tudes. The afflicted, the sorrowing, and the 
unshepherded people moved Jesus to pity. 
Three times it is mentioned that the sight of 
the multitude aroused his compassion: once 
before sending forth the twelve, once before 
feeding the five thousand, once before feeding 
the four thousand. Jesus himself speaks of 
the compassion he exercised for the demoniac 
and by which he was moved by the four thou- 
sand. It is an interesting fact that this emo- 
tion is attributed to Jesus by the synoptic 
writers, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, but not 
by John, to whom love seemed to embrace the 
motive of pity. 

In his teaching Jesus recognized this emo- His Teaching 
tion in the command, "Be ye therefore merci- companion 
ful, as your Father also is merciful"; in the 
parable of the good Samaritan, who was 
moved with compassion at the sight of the 
wounded man; in the parable of the unmerci- 
ful servant, whose lord through compassion 
had forgiven him a large debt, but who him- 
self would show no pity on a fellow servant; 
in the parable of the prodigal son, whose 
father saw him a great way off and had com- 

161 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 



Jesus Not an 
Object of Pity 



The Tears of 
Jesus 



At the Tomb 
of Lazarus 



Over 

Jerusalem 



passion on him ; and in the beatitude concern- 
ing the merciful. The sum of the teaching of 
Jesus concerning this emotion is that man 
should be merciful to man because it is the 
nature of God to be merciful. 

Though Jesus was pitiful, he was unwilling 
to be regarded as pitiable, and is never so pre- 
sented in the Gospels. He showed pity for 
others, he commands that pity be shown, but 
he did not pity himself, and he did not accept 
the pity of others. When the daughters of 
Jerusalem bewailed him on the way with his 
cross to his crucifixion, he redirected their 
pity to themselves and to their children. 

Three times the tears of Jesus flowed. The 
full humanity of those tears! First, at the 
grave of Lazarus. When Jesus saw Mary 
weeping and the Jews with her weeping, he 
groaned in the spirit and was troubled, asked 
where they had laid him, and himself wept. 
His tears excited varied comment among the 
Jews, some remarking on his love for Lazarus 
as evidenced by his weeping; others question- 
ing whether he who restored sight could not 
also have prevented death. Again groaning 
in himself, Jesus came to the tomb. In sym- 
pathetic sorrow he wept with those who wept. 

On Palm Sunday, while making his trium- 
phal entry on the peaceful ass's colt, not with 

162 



THE EMOTIONS OF JESUS 

shouts of victory but with loud cries of lamen- 
tation did he draw nigh, see the city, and weep 
over it. He had so yearned that the city 
should learn from him the things of peace. 
Too late now! Those things were hidden. 
Instead, not recognizing the day of its oppor- 
tunity, its enemies should lay it waste, and 
dash its children to the ground. They were 
tears of anguish at the rejection in ignorance 
of opportunity, tears anticipating Gethsemane 
and Golgotha. 

The gospels record only these two instances Perhaps in 
of the tears of Jesus; the third is recorded by 
the author of the Epistle; to the Hebrews (5.7) : 
"In the days of his flesh, with bitter cries and 
tears, he offered prayers and supplications to 
him who was able to save him from death ; and 
he was heard because of his godly fear. Thus, 
Son that he was, he learned by all he suffered 
how to obey." The reference is evidently to 
the agony in the garden. The tears accom- 
panied the prayer that, if possible, he might 
be saved from death. These three times the 
tears of Jesus flowed; they dissolve the last 
vestige of a spectral figure and leave a trium- 
phant "Man of Sorrows." 

The tears of others Jesus transmuted into Affected by 
smiles as the sun puts the rainbow over the otLS" 8 ° f 
waterfall. The epileptic lad whose father 

163 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 

cried out his belief with tears, Jesus healed. 
The penitent harlot who in Simon's house 
washed the feet of Jesus with her tears, Jesus 
sent away in peace. "Why make ye this ado, 
and weep?" he said to the hired mourners 
before restoring the daughter of Jairus. 
"Weep not," he said, before turning back with 
joy the funeral procession out of Xain. 
"Mary," he said, revealing himself to the weep- 
ing Magdalene the first Christian Easter. He 
so marked the bitter weeping of the denying 
Peter that he sent him a special message of 
hope : "Go tell my disciples and Peter." So to 
the weeping sisters Martha and Mary he re- 
stored their beloved brother, though first 
mingling his tears with theirs. Such was the 
responsive and effective sympathy of Jesus 
with the tears of men and women. 
Miracles and The miracles of Jesus are motivated by sym- 
sympathy pathy. He would do no sign to convince an 
evil and adulterous generation of his Messiah- 
ship — that he had determined upon at the 
Temptation. But many works of mercy he 
performed for the relief of those in any kind 
of distress. His first miracle relieved the 
social embarrassment of a rustic bridegroom 
whose supply of wine ran short. His second 
miracle restored to health the son of the be- 
lieving nobleman at Capernaum. The third 

164 



THE EMOTIONS OF JESUS 

cast out an unclean spirit on the Sabbath in 
the synagogue in Capernaum. The fourth 
rebuked the great fever of Peter's wife's 
mother. At this point the count is lost, for 
"all the city was gathered together at the 
door" of Peter's house in Capernaum. "He 
laid his hands on every one, and healed them." 
We might go through the whole list of mira- 
cles — some thirty-odd specific ones being re- 
corded, including individual healings, group 
healings, restoration of life, and the nature 
miracles — and in each case we should find the 
same thing: the motive of sympathy. Jesus 
was a relieving Friend in need, no worker of 
wonders that people might gape at a sign. 
Even the coin in the fish's mouth perhaps re- 
lieved the financial embarrassment of Peter, 
as quieting the storm on the lake removed the 
fear of the dismayed disciples. The miracles 
of Jesus are thus the effective outgo of his 
sympathetic spirit in the relief of human need. 

Such sympathy of Jesus was costly to him. sympathetic 
Saint Matthew expresses it by quoting Isaiah : "* 
"Himself took our infirmities, and bore our 
sicknesses." Jesus himself said that the deaf 
and dumb spirit of the epileptic boy was of a 
kind that only prayer could cause to come 
out. Pressed on all sides by the multitude, 
when touched by the woman with an issue of 

165 



JESUS— OUE STAXDAKD 

blood, he felt virtue proceed out of himself. 
Those sufferers with sane minds were regu- 
larly induced to cooperate in their cure 
through exercising faith. Where there was 
unbelief Jesus could not do many mighty 
works. Thus his sympathy motivating his 
miracles was in certain instances that deep 
kind of suffering with another which by shar- 
ing divides and by dividing makes way for 
healing. The method by which the sympa- 
thetic cure was effected is only hinted, not 
described. Jesus took pains at times to estab- 
lish this bond of sympathy first, by putting 
his finger in the ears of the deaf, by anointing 
with clay the eyes of the blind. He himself 
said that it was by "the finger of God" that 
he cast out devils and that it was evidence 
that the kingdom of God had come among 
men. 
Recognition of As compassion, so also sympathy is recog- 
H^£ac y n£g nized in his teaching. The Golden Kule itself, 
given in the Sermon on the Mount, involves 
putting oneself in the place of another so as 
to determine how one would be treated in that 
position, that one may treat another likewise. 
One trouble with Dives was that he had no 
sympathy for Lazarus lying full of sores at 
his gate, eating the crumbs from his table, 
whose wretchedness the unowned street-dogs 

166 



THE EMOTIONS OF JESUS 

increased by coming and licking his sores. The 
Pharisees had no sympathy with the publi- 
cans — they "despised others" — which led Jesus 
to speak the parable of the two men who went 
up in the temple to pray. The elder brother 
had no sympathy with the returning prodigal 
and the father's merrymaking. The Levite and 
the priest had no sympathy with the man who 
had fallen among thieves, bent as they doubt- 
less were upon business of their religion. The 
Pharisees were "separatists," divorced in sym- 
pathy from the common people, against whose 
lack of sympathy the teaching of Jesus was 
especially directed. Jesus both had sympathy 
and taught that all men should have it. 

Though joy and blessedness were deeper «AManof 
notes in the life of Jesus, he also had sorrows, Sorrows " 
both physical and spiritual. He missed the 
comforts of home and had not where to lay 
his head, though he said this in no self-pity, 
but to help a would-be disciple count the cost. 
He had a yoke, though easy, and a burden, 
though light. He took up his cross daily. In 
the presence of the deaf-mute, he sighed ; upon 
other occasions he groaned in spirit. With 
his mind filled with the sufferings awaiting 
him in Jerusalem, his manner on the way go- 
ing up there for the last time was such as to 
amaze his disciples and to make them that 

167 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 

followed afraid. He had a baptism to be bap- 
tized with, and "how am I straitened," he said, 
"till it be accomplished." When the Greeks 
came to see him, he said his soul was troubled, 
he realized that his hour was at hand. At the 
Last Supper he was troubled in spirit at the 
thought of the betrayal. In the garden of 
Gethsemane, being tempted to save himself; 
being greatly amazed and sore troubled ; being 
in an agony; sweating as it were great drops 
of blood falling down upon the ground; pray- 
ing earnestly that if possible the cup might be 
removed; feeling perhaps as never before 
the adversative "nevertheless" between the 
Father's and his own will, yet conquering it 
by obedient submission; seeking alternately 
divine and human sympathy, he states his own 
feeling to the three most intimate disciples: 
"My heart is sad, sad even to death." It was 
the anguish of anticipated separation from 
God on the cross, of the foreseen dereliction. 
Not saving himself, he was saving others. He 
was betrayed, forsaken by his own, denied by 
Peter, bound, stricken, falsely testified against, 
stripped, arrayed in purple, given a crown of 
thorns, given a reed in his right hand for a 
scepter, mocked, spit upon, smitten on the 
head with the reed, and delivered unto a 
shameful death. He went out bearing the 

168 



THE EMOTIONS OF JESUS 

cross for himself, until relieved by Simon of 
Cyrene. Women bewailed and lamented him 
on the via dolorosa, though he deprecated 
their doing so. He thirsted on the cross. The 
climax of his sorrows came in the cry from the 
cross at the ninth hour: "Eloi, Eloi, lama 
sabachthanif" It had come as he knew it 
would, the obscuring for a time of his sense 
of the Father's presence, while his strength 
ebbed away and his soul identified itself with 
the suffering of the sinning world. But his 
spirit recovered in the strength of the twenty- 
second psalm which he began to quote, and 
the end was the everlasting triumph of a fin- 
ished work and a spirit commending itself 
into the Father's hands. 

The end of Jesus' s life was not unhappy, sorrow 
or miserable, but a glorious overcoming of the Subsumed 
tribulations of the world. A Man of Sorrows, 
yes, but more truly still, a Man of good cheer. 
His own beatitude was his: "Blessed are the 
mourners ! they will be consoled." 

Though it is said of Jesus by John that he Twice jesus 

. , , , , Marveled 

knew what was in man, upon two occasions he 
was led to marvel. He marveled at the un- 
belief of his fellow townsmen in Nazareth and 
he marveled at the faith of the Roman cen- 
turion, as he begged in behalf of a favorite 
slave the authoritative ministration of Jesus 

169 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 

from a distance. Jesus was not surprised 
that his old friends should not believe in him, 
for a prophet, he recalled, is not without 
honor save in his own country and among his 
own people, but their unbelief did excite his 
wonder and reprobation. 

The faith of the centurion awakened both 
his sense of surprise that unexpectedly he had 
met such faith outside of Israel and wonder 
at the magnitude of it. Likewise when he said 
to the Canaanitish woman, "O woman, great 
is thy faith," the elements of surprise and 
wonder seem to mingle. Thus Jesus marveled 
at two things — unbelief in Israel and belief 
beyond Israel. The one he condemned, the 
other he approved. 
The Surprise Though surprise is not asserted of Jesus, the 

element of surprise seems to be present on 
several occasions. Thus his question at twelve 
to his parents, "Why did you look for me?" 
seems to indicate surprise that they did not 
come at once to the temple to find him. The 
sudden rising of the storm on the lake with 
the disciples in the boat far from land and 
Jesus alone on the mountain in prayer, Jesus 
himself having constrained the disciples to go 
before him unto the other side, may well have 
been a surprise to Jesus as well as to the dis- 
ciples. Would he have sent them into known 

170 



of Jesus 



THE EMOTIONS OF JESUS 

danger? He would not tempt God in the 
wilderness. Likewise, an element of surprise 
appears in the question addressed to Peter on 
finding him sleeping in the garden after hav- 
ing been told to watch: "Simon, sleepest 
thou?" And to Mcodemus : "Art thou a master 
of Israel, and knowest not these things?" 

Once the soul of Jesus was seized with The 
amazement. In the garden he began to be of j esu8 
greatly amazed and sore troubled (Mark 14. 
33). At what was Jesus amazed? Was the 
agony greater in fact than he had been led to 
anticipate? Was it something of the same 
surprise and shock that entered into the cry 
from the cross, the unexpected sense of God- 
forsakenness? Or, are the amazement of Geth- 
semane and the cry from Golgotha just ex- 
pressions of now felt but hitherto anticipated 
anguish? We cannot be sure. I am inclined 
to think that both the agony in the garden 
and the sense of separation from God on the 
cross were greater in fact than Jesus had 
fully realized in advance, so that the element 
of surprise mingles with dreadful awe in his 
amazement. 

Jesus was himself a marvel not only to j eS us 
others but also to his disciples. They were ^°^^ e8 
astonished at his command of the storm; at 
his teaching concerning the rich and concern- 

171 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 

ing divorce; at his demeanor as he, literally, 
stiffened his face to go to Jerusalem, know- 
ing what awaited him there ; at the wonderful 
draught of fishes; at the withering away of 
the barren fig tree; and at the news of his 
resurrection. They saw in him an unusual 
manner of man. 

And others Others too, individually, in groups, and in 

multitudes, were astonished at him. Joseph 
and Mary marveled at the prophecy of Simeon 
concerning the infant Jesus; and they did 
not understand his twelve-year-old saying in 
the temple, where his auditors had marveled 
at his understanding and answers. Mcode- 
mus marveled at the teaching of his need for 
a new birth. The multitudes marveled at the 
authority with which he taught, in contrast 
with the scribes, at his healings, his forgiving 
sins, his knowing letters, his wisdom in an- 
swering questions, his words of grace as he 
preached, his disregard of current customs in 
eating and in social intercourse, and in the 
freedom allowed his disciples. 

Discouraged What was the attitude of Jesus toward the 

repeated astonishment he and his teaching 
excited? Two things: he discouraged idle 
wonder, and he raised expectations of more 
wonderful things to come. His wonderful 
works were not primarily "wonders," but 

172 



Idle Wonder 



THE EMOTIONS OF JESUS 

"signs"; not something at which to open the 
physical eyes, but something to open the spirit- 
ual eyes. He recognized that false prophets 
and false Christs could show "signs and won- 
ders," and that the sons of his enemies could 
cast out demons. His wonderful works were 
to him not a proof but an effect of his mission. 
Unquickened souls to whom Moses and the 
prophets did not appeal would not believe 
though one rose from the dead. To seek after 
a sign was characteristic of an evil and adul- 
terous generation. To the nobleman of Caper- 
naum, seeking help for his sick son, Jesus said, 
"Unless you see signs and wonders, you never 
will believe." So Jesus discredited material 
marvels, distinguished his own works from 
them as "signs" of the presence of the King- 
dom, and would not have faith built upon 
them, unless one understood the works aright 
as spiritual. 

But expectation of greater spiritual accom- Encouraged 
plishment, he aroused. His disciples should ^™££ 
do greater works than his own after he was 
gone and they must rely upon him and them- 
selves. He had, after all, told Mcodemus only 
"earthly" things, while the true "heavenly" 
things waited to be told. Nathanael should be 
a witness of greater things than being told 
Jesus had seen him under the fig tree, even the 

173 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 

heavens opened and the angels of God ascend- 
ing and descending upon the Son of man. The 
Father would show the Son greater works 
than these, "that ye may marvel." They 
should not marvel even at the idea, so as to 
reject it, of the Son of man executing judg- 
ment. "I have done one work, and ye all 
marvel" (John 7. 21). Jesus thus opens the 
imagination to new spiritual wonders waiting 
to be revealed. He had many things to tell 
which not even his disciples were yet ready 
to hear. 

V. The Anger of Jesus 

Once Jesus was angry and once at least 
indignant. In each case it is Mark alone who 
has recorded these emotions of Jesus, for 
which we may be grateful to Mark, as these 
are essential traits in his character. It is 
Mark who especially of the evangelists empha- 
sizes the human feelings of Jesus. The occa- 
sion of the anger of Jesus was the silence of 
his critics at his question concerning the law- 
fulness of doing good on the Sabbath day 
before healing the man with the withered hand 
in the synagogue. He "looked round about 
on them with anger, being grieved for the 
hardness of their hearts" (Mark 3. 5). What 
made him angry? Their inhumanity and un- 

174 



THE EMOTIONS OF JESUS 

godliness: their attitude was both unsympa- 
thetic toward human misfortune and mis- 
representative of God's mercy. It was the 
flaming out of righteous anger, accompanied 
by a grieved heart. 

Jesus was moved with indignation at his The 
own disciples who rebuked those bringing Jj j^ oa 
babes and little children to him that he might 
lay his hands on them and pray. At what was 
he indignant? At the idea that the kingdom 
of heaven was not for little children. "And 
he called them unto him, took them in his 
arms, and laid his hands upon them, and 
blessed them." 

Though indignation and resentment are not Possible cases 
mentioned, these feelings would naturally 
accompany certain other things that Jesus 
did and said. He cleansed the temple ; he put 
forth those who laughed him to scorn in the 
home of Jairus ; he cursed the barren fig tree, 
which, like the religious leaders of the time, 
put forth leaves of promise but yielded no 
fruit; he once addressed Peter, who was re- 
buking him for anticipating suffering, as 
"Satan," and he denounced with repeated 
woes the hypocrites. 

With whatever emotions accompanied, three Three 
rebukes of Jesus are recorded. He rebuked Rebukes 
the unclean spirit in an afflicted man, and, as 

175 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 

though they too were moved by spirits, he 
rebuked the great fever of Peter's wife's 
mother, and he rebuked the winds and the 
sea. In this connection it may be proper to 
recall, though without any satisfactory inter- 
pretation, the marginal readings in the ac- 
count of Jesus at the tomb of Lazarus. When 
Jesus saw Mary and the Jews weeping, "he 
chafed in spirit and was disquieted" (John 
11. 33 ) . Later he came to the tomb, and "this 
made Jesus chafe afresh" (John 11. 38). Shall 
we say the suggestion is that Jesus was moved 
with indignation at the agency causing the 
death of Lazarus? Or, was his groaning in 
spirit an expression of sympathetic sorrow? 
The In contrast with the indignation of Jesus 

others at inhumanity to an afflicted man or to little 

children, we have the indignation of the ten 
at the supposed preference shown to James 
and John; the indignation of the disciples, 
especially Judas, at the "waste" of precious 
ointment ; the indignation of the rulers of the 
synagogue at healing on the Sabbath ; and the 
indignation of the Pharisees at the "Hosan- 
nas" of the children in the temple. At the 
bottom of such indignation we find jealousy, 
envy, avarice, inappreciation of woman's 
gracious and grateful homage, and religious 
prejudice. At the bottom of the indignation 

176 



THE EMOTIONS OF JESUS 

and anger of Jesus we find resentment at any 
interference with God's love or his own for 
men and children. There is a righteous anger, 
there is a wrath of God — they are redeeming 
love thwarted. 

The teaching of Jesus concerning anger is Teaching 
that every one who is angry with his brother j^l™ 1 ** 
shall be in danger of the judgment (Matt. 5. 
22). Some ancient authorities, in order to 
make it plain that inevitable righteous anger 
is not meant, insert "without cause." Such 
insertion is not necessary, as the context 
shows the anger forbidden is that associated 
with calling contemptuous and contumelious 
names and dissociated from love. Such anger 
is to be removed, the offended brother is to be 
reconciled, before a gift acceptable to God can 
be offered at the altar. Likewise, turning the 
other cheek is a doctrine of showing resent- 
ment in love rather than in anger. When 
Jesus was struck by one of the officers in the 
trial before the high priests, Jesus did not 
literally turn the other cheek, but answered 
him: "If I have spoken evil, bear witness of 
the evil; but if well, why smitest thou me?" 
So Jesus neither practiced nor taught that 
all anger is unrighteous; he both exemplified 
and recognized in his teaching anger at the 
hindering of the course of love, condemning in 

177 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 



la His 
Disciples 



In His 
Generation 



practice and precept the anger unmotived by 
love. 

VI. The Disappointment of Jesus 



The sense of disappointment is a peculiarly 
human and interesting emotion. If we are 
correct in interpreting the emotional coloring 
of his words, Jesus was repeatedly disap- 
pointed. One source of his disappointment 
was the lack of faith and dullness of under- 
standing of his disciples. "Are ye also even 
yet without understanding?" "O ye of little 
faith!" "Do ye not yet perceive?" "How is it 
that ye do not perceive?" "Do ye not yet 
understand?" "O faithless generation, how 
long shall I be with you? How long shall I 
suffer you?" "Couldest not thou watch one 
hour?" "Have I been so long time with you, 
and yet hast thou not known me, Philip?" 
These are some of the expressions showing a 
measure of disappointment in the disciples. 
He warned Judas of the betrayal, Peter of 
the denial, and the twelve of their being 
offended in him the last night. It troubled 
him in spirit that one of the disciples should 
betray him, and he recognized that of those 
given him by the Father he had lost one. 

Jesus was also disappointed at the unbelief 
of his generation. He set out to win his peo- 

178 



THE EMOTIONS OF JESUS 

pie, only to come to see that the grain of wheat 
must first fall into the ground and die. He 
sighed deeply in spirit as he said : "Why doth 
this generation seek after a sign?" He was 
"grieved for the hardness of their hearts." 
The unbelief of the Nazarenes caused him to 
marvel. He upbraided the cities in which 
mighty works were done for their unbelief — 
Bethsaida, Chorazin, and Capernaum. In the 
same breath he denounces with woes the 
Pharisees and laments over Jerusalem. On 
Palm Sunday he wept over the city. It was 
the faith of Jesus in what would transpire 
after his death that kept him from dying a 
disappointed man and enabled him to say at 
the last : "It is finished." 

Outward circumstances at times, as well as By 
the character of his disciples and his people, Curcumstances 
disappointed him. He came seeking fruit on 
the fig tree, being hungry, perhaps after a 
night spent in the open, and found none. He 
sought retirement in the borders of Tyre and 
Sidon, but he could not be hid. He sought 
rest with his disciples in a desert place apart 
by boat, but the people saw them and outwent 
them by land. So in the minor as well as in 
the major matters of life, Jesue ^lt disap- 
pointment. By laying hold on the future, he 
avoided both pessimism and cynicism. 

179 



JESUS— OUK STANDARD 

Prepared His He taught his disciples too that "tribula- 
SeWoret tions" and "persecutions" and frustration of 
hopes and plans — "another shall gird thee" — 
awaited them in the world, but they were to 
be of good cheer, nevertheless, for he had over- 
come the world. 

VII. The Gratitude of Jesus 

For Daily A very characteristic emotion of Jesus is 

Bread ^at Q f g ra titude. One of the blessings of life 

for which he gave thanks was the daily bread. 
Before feeding the four thousand, after taking 
the seven loaves and the fishes, "he gave 
thanks and broke." In Mark's account he 
gave thanks for the bread and blessed the fish. 
Before feeding the five thousand he took the 
loaves, and "having given thanks," he began 
to distribute. How this thanksgiving im- 
pressed John is indicated by the way he intro- 
duces it into his later narrative as marking a 
point of reference: "So, as some boats from 
Tiberias had put in near the spot, where they 
had eaten bread after the Lord's thanksgiv- 
ing" (John 6. 23). According to the other 
three evangelists he blesses before feeding the 
five thousand; that is, he blesses God as the 
giver of sustenance. 
For the Bread Jesus also gave thanks for the bread and 
andWine wine of the Last Supper. "He took bread, 

180 



THE EMOTIONS OF JESUS 

and when he had blessed, he brake it." "And 
he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it 
to them." How was it possible for Jesus to 
bless God for the token of his broken body 
and to return thanks for the symbol of his 
shed blood? Perhaps through seeing the end, 
that by the way of the cross all men would 
be drawn unto him. There was something so 
striking in the manner of his blessing the 
bread that thereby the two disciples in Em- 
maus at last recognized their risen Lord: 
"He was known of them in breaking of 
bread." 

Jesus also gave thanks to God for the reve- For Revelation 
lations of the mysteries of the Kingdom unto 
babes. "I praise thee, Father, Lord of heaven 
and earth, for hiding all this from the wise 
and learned, and revealing it to the simple- 
minded." Luke's setting for this rejoicing in 
the Holy Spirit is the return of the seventy; 
Matthew's is the upbraiding of the unrepent- 
ant cities ; that is, Luke emphasizes the revela- 
tion unto babes, and Matthew the concealment 
from the wise. 

Still another source of thanksgiving to For Answer to 
Jesus was the answer to prayer. Standing Prayer 
by the opened tomb of Lazarus, Jesus "lifting 
his eyes to heaven, said, 'Father, I thank thee 
for listening to me.' " Thus, all told, Jesus 

181 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 



He Noted 
Gratitude and 
Ingratitude 



When No 
Thanks Are 
Due 



No Thanks 
from God to 
Man 



expresses gratitude for sustenance of both 
body and soul. 

Jesus not only himself gave thanks, but 
he also recognized and appreciated thanks- 
giving in others and reproved ingratitude. 
" 'Were all the ten not cleansed? Where are 
the nine? Was there no one to return and 
give glory to God [= to render thanks] except 
this foreigner?' " The occasion was the heal- 
ing of the lepers in a certain village on the 
borders of Samaria and Galilee. 

In his teaching concerning thanks, Jesus 
shows that no thanks are due in making a fair 
exchange, such as loving and doing good to 
those who love and do good in return, in lend- 
ing to those from whom one hopes to receive. 
"Even sinners do the same." By implication 
those are due thanks who love and do good to 
enemies and lend, "despairing of no man," 
which things lead to sonship of the Most High 
as their reward. 

Jesus also teaches that men are the unprofit- 
able servants of God, deserving no thanks for 
doing all the things commanded, which is sim- 
ple duty. "Does he thank the servant for doing 
his bidding?" (Luke 17. 9.) The reason man 
is entitled to no thanks from God is that he 
receives so much from God. It is impossible 
that God should be beholden to man for lov- 

182 



THE EMOTIONS OF JESUS 

ing, and doing good to, and lending to him, 
who is already kind to all, even the unthankful 
and the evil. God has already recompensed 
us for all we can ever do for him, and so owes 
us no thanks. 

Jesus holds up to ridicule that hypocritical Hypocritical 
thanksgiving which is really self-flattery. sgmng 

"The Pharisee stood and prayed by himself 
as follows : 'I thank thee, O God, I am not like 
the rest of men.' " The trouble was he felt 
meritorious, he felt himself to be a profitable 
servant because he had certain negative vir- 
tues. He used the words of prayer, but he 
was really communing with his own soul. In 
sum, Jesus teaches that thanks are due from 
man to God and from man to the sons of the 
Most High who serve without recompense, but 
that no thanks can be due from God to man, 
or from man to man on a basis of fair 
return. 

Jesus, himself thankful to God, and teach- Gratitude for 
ing men whom to thank and how, has himself 
become a source of thanksgiving to God from 
man. At his birth the choir of angels glori- 
fied God, at the sight of him in infancy the 
aged prophetess Anna gave thanks unto God, 
and especially the apostle Paul has spoken for 
Christendom in saying : "Thanks be unto God 
for his unspeakable gift." 

183 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 



Dependent 
Upon Elders 



VIII. His Sense of Dependence 

Jesus felt his dependence upon God. This 
feeling of dependence has been made the 
essence of religion by some theologians, nota- 
bly Schleiermacher. Jesus expressed his 
sense of dependence in both words and prayer, 
but his sense of dependence was something 
more than a subjective feeling : he felt himself 
dependent upon a personal Father. 

The birth, infancy, and childhood of Jesus 
emphasize his dependence upon his elders. As 
in the case of other children, the loving care 
of his mother and the tender watchfulness of 
Joseph were requisite. He acquired the Ara- 
maic speech of the Palestine of his day, which 
was a dialect of Hebrew, recorded words of 
his witnessing to which are: Boanerges; Tali- 
tha cumi ; Ephphatha ; Abba ; Eloi, Eloi, lama 
sabachthani ; Cephas ; Raca ; and Moreh (Matt. 
5. 22, margin). 

He was dependent for his growth upon the 
tfNatare * WS laws of nature. By continuous and gradual 
development he became full of wisdom (Luke 
2. 40 ) . He increased in wisdom and in stature 
and in Divine and human favor ( Luke 2. 52 ) . 
After fasting, he hungered; after a journey, 
he was wearied and thirsty; once he was 
asleep in the boat; being sorely wounded on 
the cross, he thirsted. 

184 



Dependent 



THE EMOTIONS OF JESUS 

He depended in a measure upon others for Dependent 
his own relief and for some of his cures. He ^° n 

u triers 

would not relieve his hunger by turning stones 
into bread, and thereafter he never worked a 
miracle in his own behalf. Once his disciples 
were gone into the city to buy meat. He asked 
drink of the woman of Samaria. Peter's 
wife's mother, when healed, ministered unto 
them. He went to the fig tree looking for 
fruit. Soldiers gave him vinegar for his thirst 
on the cross. At the temptation and in the 
garden, though not, so far as the record goes, 
on the cross, he received the ministry of 
angels. 

Some of his cures were made dependent in Faith of the 
a measure upon the faith of the recipient. In Patient 
some places he could do no mighty work be- 
cause of unbelief. "All things are possible 
to him that believeth." "Believe ye that I am 
able to do this?" "Thy faith hath made thee 
whole." At the tomb of Lazarus it may have 
been the spirit of criticism in the company, 
suggesting that he who restored sight to the 
blind might have prevented death, made him 
groan in spirit. 

Though dependent on his elders, on the laws Dependence 
of nature, and on others in a measure for his pon 
own relief and for his cures, it was upon God 
that he felt himself entirely dependent. His 

185 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 

statements are unequivocal and oft-repeated: 
"I can do nothing of my own accord." "The 
Son can do nothing of his own accord." "I 
do nothing of my own accord." "I do not 
speak of my own accord." "I have not spoken 
of my own accord." "My teaching is not my 
own." "It is the Father who remains ever in 
me, who is performing his own deeds," and 
many others of similar import. He came to 
do the will of Him that sent him ; his meat was 
to do his Father's will; he taught others to 
pray: "Thy will be done"; he himself three 
times in succession prayed, "Yet, not what I 
will, but what thou wilt." He claimed as his 
brother, sister, and mother whosoever should 
do the will of his Father in heaven. His son- 
ship consisted in this functional identity of his 
will and his Father's; it meant dependence: 
"My Father is greater than I." 
Dependence The same dependence that he felt toward 

of Disciples on Q fi he taught that his disciples should have 
toward him : "Apart from me you can do noth- 
ing"; "I am the vine, ye are the branches," 
"and my Father is the husbandman." He 
prayed that the unity between his Father and 
himself might be extended to include all his 
followers, that there might be one flock and 
one shepherd. The risen Christ worked with 
and confirmed the word of the early disciples 

186 



THE EMOTIONS OP JESUS 

by the signs that followed. So the dependence 
upon him was not only taught but also pres- 
ent. 

IX. His Dependence Through Prayer 

The prayers of Jesus also exemplify in a 
special manner his sense of dependence and 
need for communion with his Father. At 
least eleven, and perhaps fourteen, times the 
Gospels present Jesus as praying, as follows: 
at the baptism, after a day of healing in 
Capernaum, before forgiving the paralytic, be- 
fore choosing the twelve, before teaching his 
disciples how to pray, before feeding the five 
thousand, before the great confession of Peter, 
at the transfiguration, when the Greeks were 
brought to him, in Gethsemane, and on the 
cross. The three probable additional in- 
stances were when "he looked up to heaven" 
on feeding the five thousand, when "he looked 
up to heaven and sighed" on healing the deaf- 
mute, and when "he lifted up his eyes" at the 
tomb of Lazarus. He also gave thanks, or 
blessed, before breaking bread, which is one 
form of prayer. It is difficult not to think 
that Jesus prayed also at the temptation and 
at each of the healings and miracles. In fact, 
the truer view is that Jesus lived a life of 
prayer which he deepened at seasons of espe- 

187 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 



For Whom 
Jesus Prayed 



Posture 



Time 



Place 



Teaching 
About Prayer 



cial need, either before, during, or after some 
unusual experience. 

He prayed for himself, in the garden; for 
Peter, that his faith fail not ; for his disciples, 
that they be kept from evil; for all believers, 
that they may be one; and for those who 
crucified him, that they might be forgiven. 

Though he represented the Pharisee as 
standing in the temple to pray, he himself 
knelt in the garden. He probably was stand- 
ing when transfigured, and on some of the 
other occasions. 

Following the Capernaum healings, he rose 
before daylight to pray. Before choosing the 
twelve, he continued all night in prayer. In 
the garden it was night. 

He prayed in the desert places; on the 
mountain-top; in the garden; in the upper 
room; perhaps also in the temple, which he 
regarded as a house of prayer; and perhaps 
also in the synagogues. He taught that one 
should pray also in one's inner chamber. 
But one gathers from the example of Jesus 
that prayer, not posture, time, or place, is the 
important thing. His practice of prayer is 
one expression of his sense of dependence on 
God for guidance, strength, and help. 

His teaching, as well as his example, is full 
of recognition of prayer as a form of express- 
es 



THE EMOTIONS OF JESUS 

ing human dependence on God. The subject 
is so large that it would take us too far afield 
to enter upon it in detail. Jesus not only gave 
the example of prayer, he also enjoined it as 
a duty: "Men ought always to pray, and not 
to faint," — words used by Luke in introducing 
one of the parables. "Ask, and it shall be 
given you," said Jesus. 

In response to the request of a disciple, who The Lord's 
was evidently impressed by seeing Jesus in Prayer 
prayer, and perhaps also a second time during 
the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus himself gave 
a definite form of prayer, "The Lord's Prayer," 
so-called not because he used it but because 
he gave it. It contains adoration, petitions 
for spiritual and physical good, and confes- 
sion. We are to pray "after this manner," and 
not use even this matchless model as a 
Thibetan Buddhist turns his prayer-wheel, 
with "vain repetition." 

Three parables Jesus spoke dealing pri- parables of 
marily with prayer, namely, the Friend at Prayer 
Midnight, the Unjust Judge, and the Pharisee 
and Publican, teaching lessons of importunity, 
perseverance, and humility in prayer. In two 
parables, prayer appears secondarily, namely, 
the Prodigal Son, and the Unmerciful Servant, 
teaching again the lesson of unworthiness and 
the lesson of forgiveness in prayer. 

189 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 



Further 
Conditions of 
Prayer 



Objects of 
Prayer 



Prayer a Mode 
of Dependence 



In his further sayings about prayer Jesus 
emphasized the necessity of the forgiving 
spirit, coupled the virtue of watchfulness with 
prayer, made faith one of its conditions, 
eliminated the danger of selfishness by teach- 
ing concert in prayer, warned against prayer 
for show, urged secret prayer instead, and for- 
bade thoughtless prayer — using "vain repeti- 
tions." This phrase does not exclude such 
repetition as the widow used with the unjust 
judge and Jesus used in the garden. Clearly, 
a new feature he introduced in prayer is the 
"in my name" petition; that is, in the power 
of a surrendered will. 

Among the objects proper to prayer he indi- 
cated these four general ones: adoration, 
thanksgiving, confession, and petition. And 
among the objects proper to petition he in- 
cludes : the gift of the Holy Spirit, the coming 
of the Kingdom, the doing of the Father's will 
on earth, the daily bread, the forgiveness of 
sins, deliverance from temptation and evil, 
one's enemies, more harvesters, and that one's 
flight at the end be not on a Sabbath or in 
winter, that is, escape from temporal hard- 
ships. He himself granted the petition of his 
disciples frightened in the storm. 

Thus Jesus recognized the inevitable place 
of prayer in the spiritual life, and by such 

190 



THE EMOTIONS OF JESUS 

recognition, supporting Ms practice, we 
realize something of his dependence on God 
and how he would have men likewise so de- 
pendent. 

Jesus exercised caution in the presence of Jesus and 

Fear 

misunderstanding or hostility, but fear was 
subsumed in courage. Others about him were 
afraid, he and his works excited fear, but he 
himself feared only God and had no other 
fear, and taught men the same. A few words 
about each of these points. 

X. Caution, But Not Fear 

The caution of Jesus preserved him in 
safety until the time for him to be delivered 
up — "his hour." He escaped the multitude 
who, after the feeding of the five thousand, 
would take him by force and make him king. 
Four times he withdrew from his enemies, 
once from the Pharisees and Herodians, once 
into the borders of Tyre and Sidon from the 
Pharisees and scribes, once from the Jews into 
Galilee, and once from the Jews into Ephraim. 
On each occasion something he had done or 
said — healing on the Sabbath, forgiving sins, 
eating with unwashed hands — had aroused 
their special enmity. He was not afraid of 
them; he was only biding his time. He was 
especially cautious in selecting a safe place in 

191 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 

the upper room of a friend's house for the 
Last Passover, prearranging the signal of a 
man carrying a pitcher. (It is natural but 
vain to wonder if the same friend tied out the 
colt for the Master's use on Palm Sunday. ) 

others Had Those with whom Jesus came in contact 

had fear. Herod would not put John the Bap- 
tist to death because he feared the people. 
The Pharisees were afraid of the multitude 
who took Jesus for a prophet. The multitude 
likewise feared the Jews; so did the parents 
of the man born blind, who was healed; so 
did Joseph of Arimathaea; so probably did 
Mcodemus; so did the disciples of the risen 
Lord, who had locked their door. The disci- 
ples too were afraid in the storm on the lake. 

jesus Excited Jesus himself by both act and word excited 
fear on the part of others, as though he were 
supernormal. The scribes and Pharisees 
feared him. The disciples were afraid to ask 
him the meaning of his words concerning his 
being delivered up ; they were afraid after the 
stilling of the tempest, and when he walked 
on the sea, and at the transfiguration. The 
Judseans were afraid on seeing the demoniac 
healed. All of those in the funeral procession 
out of Nain were afraid, seeing the son re- 
stored to his mother. The Roman centurion 
at the crucifixion was afraid. So were the 

192 



Fear 



THE EMOTIONS OF JESUS 

guards of the tomb, and the two Marys who 
early visited it. There was something awe- 
inspiring in what Jesus at times did and said. 

Though living and moving among people His Freedom 
who were afraid, Jesus himself never showed 
fear. Yet he was never foolhardy, and always 
cautious, as when he went up secretly to the 
feast, which shows he realized what danger 
was. He had the courage to do his Father's 
will, without fear, in the face of danger. Not 
once do the Gospels record the emotion of fear 
in his case. Once the author of the Epistle 
to the Hebrews (5. 7) attributes "godly fear" 
to him, for which "he was heard." But the 
Gospels do not refer even to his fear of God 
in the sense of reverential awe, which appar- 
ently is merged in the perfect love which casts 
out fear. The Gospel of Luke twice refers to 
the fear of God, but not in the case of Jesus. 
Mary sings in the Magnificat of his showing 
mercy on them that fear him (Luke 1. 50). 
The penitent thief says to his fellow, "Dost 
not thou fear God?" Jesus describes the un- 
just judge as neither fearing God nor regard- 
ing man. So fear appears in the gospel narra- 
tive, but neither the fear of man nor the fear 
of the Father is attributed to Jesus. The lat- 
ter is very significant of his sense of union 
with the Father's will. 

193 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 



Teaches the 
Fear of God 



Teaches No 
Other Fear 



Yet Jesus teaches men to fear God. The 
absence of this emotion was one of the charac- 
teristics of the unjust judge. And very em- 
phatically he says: "I will show you whom 
to fear — fear Him who after he has killed has 
power to cast into Gehenna" (Luke 12. 5), or, 
as Matthew puts it: "Fear Him who can de- 
stroy both soul and body in Gehenna." But 
some expositors think the reference is to 
Satan, the tempter, who indeed is to be feared, 
but the persecutor who can destroy only the 
body is not to be feared. 

Fear God, and nought else beside is the 
teaching of Jesus on this subject. Neither 
death, nor a miracle, nor a supposed appari- 
tion, nor men are to be feared. To Jairus, 
whose daughter lies dead, he says, "Fear not." 
To Peter, who has witnessed the miraculous 
draught of fishes, he says, "Fear not." To 
the disciples in the storm to whom he appears 
walking on the waves, he says, "It is I, be 
not afraid." To Peter, James, and John at 
the transfiguration, touching them, he says, 
"Be not afraid." To the twelve, ready for 
their mission, he says three times : "Fear them 
not," "Be not afraid of them that kill the 
body " "Fear not therefore." To the "little 
flock," he says, "Fear not." He allows no 
occasion whatsoever for fear, save of God only. 

194 



THE EMOTIONS OF JESUS 

To such fear he refers only twice, once very 
strikingly. 

So, on the whole, Jesus was without physi- conclusions 
cal fear, though both his friends and his F ^ er 
enemies felt it; even his fear of God was lost 
in loving communion with the Father; and 
he teaches men not to fear, save God only. 
The fearlessness of Jesus is one of the striking 
convictions resulting from a study of his 
emotions. 

XI. The Peace of Jesus 

The soul of Jesus was at peace. He gives 
us the impression of being unruffled and calm, 
even in the midst of some of his bitterest 
trials. Instances when his inward peace of 
soul did not desert him are when thought be- 
side himself by his mother and brethren ; when 
accused by the Pharisees of being mad, of 
being a Samaritan, of being in league with 
Beelzebul, the prince of devils, of having a 
devil, of breaking the Sabbath, of blasphemy; 
when on trial before both the ecclesiastical 
and the state authorities; and when enduring 
scourging and mockery. 

Three times, we may suppose, his soul was His peace of 
not in perfect peace. Once when disturbed by ^suJbeT 6 
suggestions of evil during the temptation; it 
took him forty days to win that peace which 

195 



JESUS— OUK STANDAKD 

carried him to the garden. Once when the 
"but" entered between his and the Father's 
will in Gethsemane during the agony; in per- 
haps an hour ( Matt. 26. 40 ) peace came again. 
And once when the "why" entered between his 
and the Father's understanding on the cross; 
as this was at the ninth hour, the end of the 
period of darkness, it was only shortly there- 
after that his soul regained its self-possession, 
and he said, "I thirst." In these three cases 
there is successive increase in the disturbance 
of his peace of soul, but successive decrease in 
the time before full peace is restored. 
He Gave Peace Jesus possessed peace ; he also gave peace 
to others. He made the unclean spirit in one 
man hold its peace; literally, he "muzzled" it. 
Kepeatedly he spoke peace to those whom he 
had healed. To the woman who had touched 
his garments in the press, he said, "Daughter, 
go in peace." To the sinful woman who had 
anointed his feet, he said, "Go in peace." Even 
the stormy wind he rebuked, and said, "Peace, 
be still." He promised rest to all those that 
labor and are heavy laden who would come 
unto him, and to his sorrowing disciples he 
said, "Peace I leave with you ; my peace I give 
unto you." The risen Christ stood in their 
midst and said, "Peace be unto you." "My 
peace," he said, by which he meant the heart 

196 



THE EMOTIONS OF JESUS 

untroubled and unafraid, because it rests in 
unison with the Father. 

In his teaching Jesus recognized that peace Peace 
is a product of preparedness: "When the nt^S^,^ 
strong man in armor guards his homestead, 
his property is undisturbed" (Luke 11. 21) ; 
that peace was something that had to be made : 
"Blessed are the peace-makers! they will be 
ranked sons of God"; that the peace worth 
while could come only after conflict: "I have 
not come to bring peace, but a sword"; that 
"Peace" was the proper salutation and promise 
of the Kingdom to be used in their mission by 
both the twelve and the seventy; that his fol- 
lowers should "be at peace one with another" ; 
and that Jerusalem, not knowing the things 
that belong unto peace, would be destroyed. 
Thus Jesus taught that peace is one of the 
possessions of the Kingdom, to be had not by 
compromise, but by conquest of evil. Jesus 
claimed that he had overcome the world with 
its tribulation. So he won peace for himself 
and his followers, anticipated by the angels' 
song at the Nativity: "Peace on earth, good 
will toward men." 

XII. Many Other Emotions 

Into the many more emotions of the rich 
and complex feeling life of Jesus, our lack of 

197 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 

space forbids us to enter in detail, though they 
may be suggested in a general way. He was 
interested in observing the wavs of men, chil- 
dren, animals, and things, and in studying 
the law and the prophets. He felt reverence 
for Moses and the temple and the angels of 
children. There were periods of spiritual 
exaltation, when he was led or driven by the 
Spirit, or must needs go through Samaria. 
or rejoiced in the Holy Spirit. He felt an 
earnest and consuming zeal in cleansing the 
house of prayer of thieving merchants. He 
was keenlv sensitive to the lack of gratitude 
shown by nine of the ten cleansed lepers, to 
the lack of hospitality of the Pharisee who 
gave him neither water for his feet nor oil 
for his head, and to the charge of being a 
legate of Beelzebul. He was inexpressibly 
tender in the words addressed to the young 
daughter of Jairus : "Larabkin, arise." He had 
such fine feeling that he stooped for shame in 
the presence of the accused woman and wrote 
upon the ground. He anticipated the time 
when the Son of man would be ashamed be- 
fore angels of those ashamed of him before 
men. He was appreciative of the poor widow's 
two mites and of the acts of gracious social 
courtesy extended himself in the anointings. 
It was a satisfaction to him to fulfill all right- 

198 



THE EMOTIONS OF JESUS 

eousness by baptism and at all times to do 
his Father's will. And they sang a hymn be- 
fore they went out together for the last time. 

XIII. Jesus as an Artist 

Where shall we discuss the fact that Jesus 
was an artist in words? Though our Gospels 
are an English translation of a Greek transla- 
tion of his spoken Aramaic, they cannot con- 
ceal the fact that Jesus was essentially a poet 
in his powers of expression. Much is involved 
in seeing the world with the poet's eye and 
telling what one sees with the poet's vocabu- 
lary. It involves full vital force to supply the 
strength for creative self-expression; it in- 
volves a sincerely good soul to supply a 
worthy content to beautiful form; it involves 
the heat of emotion and the fire of imagination 
to produce lasting symbols of truth; it in- 
volves a heightened intellectual perspective to 
bring eternal meaning into things temporal; 
and it involves for highest attainment the sense 
of the indwelling God in all things. Thus, the 
discussion of Jesus as an artist might with 
some reason fall under any one of our five 
ideals. But because art and beauty are more 
immediately related to the emotions than 
to the other elements of human nature, we 

199 



Portrayal of 
Children 



JESUS— OUK STANDARD 

will at this point briefly discuss the art of 
Jesus. 

His Poetry Jesus had the soul of an artist. His 

medium of expression was not colors, tones, 
marble, or metal, but language. The poetry 
of the Hebrews was not modern rhyme, nor 
classical rhythm and accent, but balanced 
structure in the sentence corresponding to bal- 
anced thought. In the old Scriptures poetry 
in this sense occurs in the Proverbs, Psalms, 
and the Prophets. And this form of poetry 
Jesus used in the Beatitudes. 

Artistic We have seen the refined emotional develop- 

ment of Jesus, the sensitiveness of his soul, 
which naturally demands poetic expression as 
its fitting instrument, fitting because unusual 
and uncommon. When he called a little child, 
it came (Matt. 18. 2), which happens only to 
those who retain childhood in their hearts. 
He had observed with interest their very 
childish games in the market place. With 
appreciation and imagination he said that 
children possessed the Kingdom, that they re- 
ceived the revelation hidden from the wise and 
prudent, that out of their mouths came per- 
fect praise, and that their angels always be- 
held the Father's face. Here are the emo- 
tional appreciation and imagery requisite to 
poetry. Apart from the rhyme and rhythm 

200 



THE EMOTIONS OF JESUS 

of most poetry, imagery, clothed with emotion 
and suitable to its object, is poetry. 

Such poetic material we find in abundance survival value 
in the teaching of Jesus. In view of the fact JSob 
that his words lived for about a generation 
in the memory of others before being written 
down in their present form, it may be confi- 
dently affirmed that the survival of his very 
words is due not only to their inherent truth, 
but also to their poetic beauty. They are not 
easily forgotten, they catch the imagination, 
they remain as pictures, they are easily quot- 
ed, and they stimulate the minds of others. 

An incomplete list of the more striking The imagery 
images of Jesus, usually visual, but sometimes of Jesus 
auditory, in type, would include the follow- 
ing: the fields whitening to the harvest, the 
well of water springing up within, the night 
wind blowing where it listeth, the branch abid- 
ing in the vine, the fig tree putting forth her 
leaves, his disciples as children of the bridal 
chamber, the wise and foolish virgins with 
their lamps, the violent taking the kingdom 
of heaven by force, drinking the cup of sorrow, 
the light of the world, the children of light, 
the outer darkness, the power of darkness, 
fishers of men, hands on the plow, the cup of 
cold water, the hair black or white, the sower, 
Dives clothed in purple and fine linen, the 

201 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 

king among his guests in their wedding gar- 
ments, the sheep and the goats, the blind lead- 
ing the blind, the crowing cock, the hen gather- 
ing her brood under her wing at night, God 
clothing the grass of the field and feeding the 
ravens, twelve legions of angels, angels ascend- 
ing and descending on the Son of man, the 
twelve thrones, the righteous shining forth 
as the sun ("There is no more impressive 
figure in literature," says the poet, Edwin 
Markham 1 ), Satan falling as lightning from 
heaven, the many mansions in the Father's 
house, binding and loosing on earth and in 
heaven, the Son of man seated on the clouds 
of heaven, the trumpet's sound throughout the 
world, the lightning's flash, coming from the 
east and the west, the four winds of heaven, 
the Queen of the South, the great gulf fixed, 
the undying worm, the unquenched fire, the 
weeping and gnashing of teeth, the whited 
sepulchers, the foul platter, the corruption of 
moth and rust, eating his flesh, drinking his 
blood, casting fire on the earth, cross-bearing, 
the dead burying their dead, compassing sea 
and land, casting a sycamine tree into the sea, 
being cast into the sea with a millstone about 
one's neck, the roaring of the sea and the 
billows, the prince of this world, the gates 
1 The Poetry of Jesus, Forum, March, 1910, p. 287. 

202 



THE EMOTIONS OP JESUS 

of hell, the woman sweeping for her one lost 
coin, the shepherd leaving the ninety and nine 
and seeking the one lost sheep, the loving 
father seeing his returning prodigal son a 
great way off and running and falling on his 
neck and kissing him. 

Such images pass into the social inheritance The ***** » 
of the race. They become like current coin. 
We use them without even recalling their 
origin or first significance. They are feathers 
to the arrows of truth. They are unmatched 
in striking quality and economy of language 
and appropriateness. They reveal Jesus an 
artist in words. The human ear will never 
cease hearing that night wind blowing, that 
sea with its billows roaring, that trumpet blow- 
ing, that undertone of weeping and gnashing 
of teeth in the final settlement of the destiny 
of souls. And the eye of the mind will never 
cease seeing those fields whitening, that fig 
tree budding forth, that rich man sitting 
clothed, that king among his wedding guests 
detecting one without the wedding garment. 
Once and for all the art of words, coined in 
a poet's soul, has caught and portrayed those 
bits of life, charged them with emotion, sur- 
charged them with spiritual meaning, and 
committed them to the keeping of man's heart 
forever. 

203 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 

XIV. Conclusions 

Thus we have reviewed the rich and full emo- 
tional life of Jesus, including the beauty of 
his words, all based evidently upon a complete 
equipment of the human instincts, and his 
teaching concerning the major emotions. Here, 
as in the case of his physique and his will, it 
is evident we have a complete emotional de- 
velopment, suitable to serve as an ideal stand- 
ard by which to test and to upbuild human 
life. Not once in dealing with the feelings of 
Jesus have we had occasion to observe that he 
was too this or too that. Some have felt he 
was tactless in his first sermon to his towns- 
people, that he showed race prejudice in talk- 
ing with the Syrophoenician, that he showed 
temper in cursing the barren fig tree, that he 
was unduly vehement in denouncing the 
Pharisees, but the context in the record makes 
compulsory no one of these interpretations. 
We conclude there is a beautv in his life and 
teaching worthy a place in our ideal standard 
of complete manhood. 

And this brings us to treat of the fourth 
ideal of complete living in relation to Jesus, 
namely, intellectuality and truth. 



204 



CHAPTEE V 

THE INTELLECTUALITY OF JESUS 

"He will lift up an ensign to the nations 
from far." — Isaiah 5. 26. 



205 



CHAPTEE V 

THE INTELLECTUALITY OF JESUS 

There are several standpoints from which 
we may profitably study this phase of the liv- 
ing of Jesus, including the qualities of his 
intellect, with especial reference to his dialec- 
tic skill; the range of his knowledge, espe- 
cially of the Scriptures; the two sources of 
his knowledge; his view of the world, or, his 
philosophy; and his recognition of truth in 
his teaching. These might all be embraced 
under the three topics of his logic, his knowl- 
edge, and his philosophy. 

I. His Intellectual Alertness 

One of the outstanding characteristics of 
the intellect of Jesus is his alertness. This 
is the more remarkable because Nazareth did 
not provide a particularly stimulating social 
environment. It was not the center of any 
recognized intellectual and social movement. 
Nathanael did not think at first that any good 

207 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 



Illustrations 



Interest in 

Historic 

Illustrations 



thing could come out of Nazareth. Its citizens 
were not open-minded for any prominence 
that might come to one of their number. But 
the Scriptures, the hills, and God were there, 
ready to stimulate an awakened soul, and from 
these sources Jesus drew his inspiration. 

To illustrate the intellectual alertness of 
Jesus. Already at twelve he quickly found 
the best place in Jerusalem at the feast of the 
passover, and remained there until called away. 
During his public ministry he used as illustra- 
tions what he had seen and appreciated in 
nature and human nature, the raiment of the 
flowers by the wayside, the birds of the air 
and their nest, the holes of the foxes, the reed 
shaken by the wind, the winds blowing as they 
list, the various fortunes of the sower's seed, 
the falling sparrow, the captive sparrows sold 
five for two pence in the market, the games 
of the children in the market, the sheep in the 
pit on the Sabbath, the ox and ass led away 
to watering on the Sabbath, the woman sweep- 
ing for her lost coin, the two mites of the 
widow, the proud and self-conscious Pharisees 
choosing out the chief seats for themselves, 
and Nathanael under the fig tree. 

Even the past history of his people, so dead 
to many of its readers with their preference 
for their own tradition, presented to his mind 

208 



THE INTELLECTUALITY OF JESUS 

living characters whose words and examples 
shaped his thinking — Naaman, the widow of 
Zarephath, Zaehariah, Noah, Jonah. 

Current events called forth his comment current Events 
and spiritual interpretation, as in the case of 
the prophets. They told him of the Galilseans 
whose blood Pilate had mingled with their 
sacrifices. He reminded them of the eighteen 
upon whom the tower of Siloam fell, drawing 
the lesson of repentance and fruit-bearing for 
those spared from calamities. 

Coming events also cast their shadow before coming Events 
him, both in his own and the nation's life. He 
reproved the scribes and the Pharisees for not 
being able to discern the signs of the times. 
He saw that the stones of the temple would 
be thrown down, that Jerusalem was the car- 
cass where the Eoman eagles would be gath- 
ered together. So Jesus was mentally alert, 
being interested in men and things, in past 
and future happenings, and abreast of the sig- 
nificant issues of his day. 

II. Qualities of His Intellect 

Coming closer to the quality of the intellect His intellect 
of Jesus, we note from his form and manner Intmtive 
of teaching that his thinking was intuitive 
rather than discursive or argumentative; con- 
crete rather than abstract ; positive rather than 

209 



JESUS— OUE STANDARD 

negative; creative rather than critical. Like 
Socrates, the great Greek conversationalist, 
the thinking of Jesus was intuitive, like a 
woman's, going straight to the essential point 
quickly, not discursively reaching conclusions 
by way of premises, and feeling one's way 
carefully by the facts to the end or final state- 
ment. Writers, like Plato and Aristotle, 
not speakers, like Socrates and Jesus, can 
take time to be argumentative in presenting 
their conclusions, though we shall see Jesus, 
when necessary, could also use the dialectic 
of the scribes. He more commonly appealed to 
the mother wit, good judgment, common and 
moral sense of his auditors, mostly untrained, 
than to their ability to follow an argument. 
The intuitive mind is poetic, imaginative, 
direct, and unqualified in its assertions, not 
bothered by verbal inconsistencies, shades of 
meaning, limiting conditions, and extenuating 
circumstances. It uses indicatives and im- 
peratives, not subjunctives and conditionals. 
Thus, as we listen to Jesus, we hear : "Blessed 
are," "come," "follow," "abide," "go," "ask," 
"preach," "teach," "give," "lend," "turn," "I 
am," etc. It is foreign to his manner of think- 
ing to use such adverbial qualifiers as "gen- 
erally," "under ordinary circumstances," "as 
a rule," etc. He sees truth too clearly and 

210 



THE INTELLECTUALITY OF JESUS 

feels it too vividly for that. His adverbs are : 
"Verily, verily," "of a truth." 

His intellect was concrete in its working concrete 
rather than abstract. He dealt with indi- 
viduals, not cases — Nicodemus, the woman at 
the well, the rich young ruler, Zacchaeus. He 
gave illustrations, not definitions. The lawyer 
probably wanted a definition in answer to his 
question: "And who is my neighbor?" He re- 
ceived the story of the good Samaritan. Not 
once in all his teaching does Jesus give a 
logical definition, the necessity of which Soc- 
rates felt. The difference is due to the fact 
that Socrates was aiming at the intellect, 
Jesus at the heart by way of the intellect. 

The thinking of Jesus was positive rather Positive 
than negative. He summed up the negative 
words of the ten commandments in two posi- 
tive ones. Religion to him consisted rather 
in doing than in abstaining, under no ascetic 
ideal of withdrawal from the world but under 
the positive ideal : "Ye shall be perfect." 

The intellect of Jesus was productive, creative 
originative, creative, not primarily imitative, 
recombining old material, or critical. We do 
not see in him primarily a critic of life, but 
Life. He indeed was himself a criticism of 
his age, and he pointed out its weaknesses, but 
the standard he used was not external to him- 

2U 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 

self. He could criticize because he was, and 
had supplied, an ideal. "Ye search the Scrip- 
tures; for in them ye think ye have eternal 
life: and they are they which testify of me. 
And ye will not come to me, that ye might have 
life." Here is criticism subordinated to an 
existent and present ideal. The light excludes, 
not criticizes, the darkness. To express the 
idea of intellectual creativeness in Roman, not 
Greek or Hebrew, terms, Jesus was a genius 
in the field of religion. 

III. His Love of Truth 

The prime intellectual virtue is the love of 
truth. Jesus impressed not only his friends 
but even his enemies with his undivided and 
fearless loyalty to truth and singleness of pur- 
pose. Thinking they might flatter him by this 
route, that he prided himself upon this quality, 
spies from the Pharisees joined with the He- 
rodians in setting this trap for him, thinking 
thereby to induce him to say something sedi- 
tious against Caesar. "Teacher," they said, 
"we know you are sincere, and that you teach 
the way of God honestly and fearlessly; you 
do not court human favor. Tell us, then, what 
you think about this. Is it right to pay taxes 
to Caesar or not? Are we to pay or are we not 
to pay?" This was the general impression 

212 



THE INTELLECTUALITY OF JESUS 

he made on his hearers. He was sensitive and 
quick on the matter of true witnessing. Once 
he said: "If I testify to myself, then my evi- 
dence is not valid" (John 5. 31), referring to 
the recognized principle that the truth must 
be established in the mouth of two witnesses 
(Matt. 18. 16). He fortified his position by 
adding: "I have Another to bear testi- 
mony to me, and I know the evidence he 
bears to me is valid" (John 5. 32). Once the 
Pharisees said to him : "You are testifying to 
yourself ; your evidence is not valid" ; to which 
Jesus replied : "Even if I bear witness of my- 
self, my witness is true; for I know whence 
I came, and whither I go" ( John 8. 13, 14 ) . 

In connection with his sense of surety in He Reasons 
knowing the truth, it is an interesting and Hhnseif 6 "' 
related fact that the reasoning of Jesus is not 
that he himself may arrive at a knowledge 
of the truth, but that he may convince others. 
Jesus impresses us not as seeking the truth 
but as already possessing it. He said, "I am 
the truth." Thus, at the open tomb of Lazarus, 
he asserted: "I am myself resurrection and 
life" ; this form of speech was natural to him, 
the outright assertion of truth in personal 
form. But he reasoned to immortality as a 
conclusion from the incident of Moses and 
the bush to convince the skeptical Sadducees. 

213 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 

"The Son of man is lord of the Sabbath," is 
his natural mode of affirmative, categorical 
speech, but he reasons under criticism from 
what David did on the Sabbath to justify his 
disciples in plucking and eating grain on that 
day. 

IV. His Reasoning and Dialectic Skill 

Jesus had what is very much better than in- 
tellectual cleverness, he had spiritual insight 
and heart-power. But he also had intellectual 
cleverness. He never exhibited intellectual 
cleverness for its own sake, which would have 
been a vain parade in the intellectual world 
which he so detested in the moral world, which 
would have also been another descent from the 
pinnacle of the temple, but he was intellec- 
tually clever as a means to worthy ends — 
meeting his skillful adversaries on their own 
ground, convincing them of truth when they 
were sincere, reducing them to silence when 
insincere. 
Training of Illustrations. We have a number of in- 

His critics stances illustrating the intellectual cleverness 
of Jesus, not indeed recorded by the evan- 
gelists for this purpose. The initiative in 
these intellectual encounters was taken at first 
by his critics, the scribes, or "lawyers," and 
Pharisees; at the end the initiative was taken 

214 



THE INTELLECTUALITY OF JESUS 

by Jesus, who silenced his questioners. His 
critics had been trained in the scribal colleges, 
the main one of which was in Jerusalem 
within the precincts of the temple, of which 
Jesus had been a remarkable pupil for three 
days when he was only twelve years old. 
There was another one of these colleges, or, 
as they were then called, House of the Mid- 
rash, in Jabne where Rabbis Eleasar and 
Ishmael taught, the site of which was the 
"Vineyard." Sometimes the classes were held 
in the home of the rabbi, or teacher, who sat 
on a low platform while his pupils sat around 
him on the floor. So Paul was "educated at 
the feet of Gamaliel" in one of these schools. 

The subject studied was not the written study of the 
Law (Torah), or the Old Testament, as we 
know it, which was presupposed as known be- 
fore entering the House of the Midrash 
(= exegesis, exposition, and illustration), 
but the oral Law, or, the "Tradition of the 
Elders" as it is called in the New Testament 
(Matt. 15. 2), which was carried in memory 
and venerated even beyond the Torah. 

The method of study was by repetition on Method of 
the part of the pupils of the words of the rabbi study 
until the traditions were perfectly remem- 
bered. Also pupils could ask questions, some 
of which were important, some of which were 

215 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 



Current 
Questions 



Intellectual 
Combat 



trivial. As an illustration of a trivial ques- 
tion we may instance the following. In de- 
scribing the duty of the deceased husband's 
brother, the Law had said (Deut. 25. 8, 9) : 
"If he stand and say, 'I like not to take her/ 
then shall his brother's wife come unto him in 
the presence of the elders, and loose his shoe 
from off his foot, and spit in his face." Ques- 
tion : "If his brother's wife have lost her hands, 
how is she to loose his shoe?" 

Among the important questions current 
among the scribes or students of these institu- 
tions, in the time of Jesus were these : "Which 
is the great commandment in the law?" "Is 
it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any 
cause?" "Are they few that are being saved?" 
To the second question the school of Shammai 
said no, only for unfaithfulness, but the school 
of Hillel said yes, for such causes as hating 
her, poor cooking, going deaf or insane, or 
even seeing a woman whom he fancied more. 
To the third question likewise there were dis- 
senting answers, some rabbis teaching that 
only a few of Israel would have part in the 
reign of the Messiah, others that all Israel 
would. 

Now a new teacher, or rabbi, arises, one not 
trained in the House of the Midrash, called 
therefore by the nickname "Samaritan," which 

216 



THE INTELLECTUALITY OF JESUS 

was commonly applied to all such, a Galilsean, 
not even a Judsean, eleven of whose disciples 
are also Galilseans, mostly fishermen, despised 
taxgatherers, and the like. So they come to 
him with their puzzling questions, "trying 
him," seeking to show him up before his ad- 
miring followers, not seeking the knowledge 
of the truth. So the match is on between the 
skilled and trained exponents of the schools 
and the unschooled, self-taught, nature-taught, 
God-taught, carpenter Prophet of Nazareth. 
They are sparring for his intellectual defeat, 
he for their spiritual humiliation ; they for his 
head, he for their heart. It is a royal combat ; 
let us watch a few passes. 

The question concerns the sinful woman case of the 
(John 8. 1-11). "Now Moses has commanded 
us to stone such creatures; but what do you 
say?" The scribes and Pharisees had set this 
trap that they might have something against 
him. What was the trap? If he had said, 
"Yes, stone her," then he loses favor with the 
publicans and sinners whose friend he is. If 
he had said, "No, do not stone her," then he 
rejects Moses — a crime indeed. But what 
does he do? First, in modesty and shame and 
sympathy, such as her accusers had not, he 
stooped and wrote on the ground, relieving 
his embarrassment and giving them an oppor- 

217 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 

tunity to retreat. They, however, brought the 
inevitable down upon themselves by continu- 
ing to ask their subtle question, now moment 
by moment becoming more transparent in its 
vulgarity and duplicity. Then he lifted up 
himself, and said unto them : "Let the innocent 
among you throw the first stone at her." 
Again he stooped and wrote, and this time, 
his eye averted, they every one took their 
moment and escaped, like whipped curs with 
their tails between their legs, one by one, be- 
ginning with the oldest sinner of all. He had 
escaped between the horns of their dilemma; 
he had upheld Moses and he had saved the 
soul of another sinner, both at the same time. 
And, further, he had intellectually shamed 
his opponents, and had, characteristic of his 
handling the Old Testament, their Torah, 
spiritually interpreted the letter of Moses as 
upholding the single standard of social mo- 
rality. And it was all done so quickly. But 
they did not like him any the better for his 
having overmatched them. This story, told 
by John, is omitted by most of the ancient 
authorities and given variously by those which 
report it, but it is true to the ability and spirit 
of Jesus. 
The case of Again they bring to him the question on 

which two of their own leading schools were 

218 



THE INTELLECTUALITY OF JESUS 

divided, "trying him" : "Is it lawful for a man 
to put away his wife for every cause?" Was 
he a strict constructionist, like Shammai, or 
a liberal constructionist, like Hillel? His 
answer might reveal that he had not consid- 
ered the question at all, or, at least, would 
alienate from him the one school or the other. 
When it comes, it cuts below both schools, be- 
low Moses himself, and roots itself in the 
creative act of God. "Have you never read 
that He who created them, male and female, 
from the beginning said, 'Hence a man shall 
leave his father and mother, and shall cleave 
to his wife; and the pair shall be one flesh? 
So that they are no longer two, but one flesh. 
What God has joined, then, man must not 
separate/ " Instead of agreeing with one 
school or the other as to whether divorce 
should be strict or loose, he interpreted an act 
of God recorded in their own Scriptures as 
signifying no divorce whatsoever. (It is true 
that Matthew, but not Mark and Luke, adds 
"except for fornication.") 

Though half-beaten in the argument, and 
no doubt amazed at an exegesis that had never 
occurred to anv one of their literalistic and 
tradition-bound doctors, they rallied to ask: 
"Then did Moses lay it down that we were to 
divorce by giving a separation notice?" With 

219 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 

a final thrust he concludes the argument with 
them that day: "For your hardness of heart 
he wrote you this commandment and suffered 
you to put away your wives : but from the be- 
ginning of the creation it hath not been so." 
They came to him with a question, they went 
away not only with their question answered 
but with a stinging rebuke of the easy divorces 
of the day. Again he had escaped each horn 
of their dilemma, had interpreted spiritually 
a familiar letter of their law, and had ap- 
pealed from Moses to God. 
The Question During Passion Week they came to him in 
AutooritJ^ Jerusalem with the question: "By what au- 
thority doest thou these things?" They had 
no inner witness in themselves to the truth 
of his claims, which was the only basis for 
accepting him that he sought. If he should 
say, "From men," they would reply, "Then 
no one should believe you"; if he should say, 
"From God," they would reply, "Prove it by 
a sign." What did he say? "I will also ask 
of you one question, and answer me, and I 
will tell you by what authority I do these 
things. The baptism of John, was it from 
heaven, or from men?" It was a fair proposi- 
tion. They brought him a dilemma. He took 
the bull by the horns. He matched theirs with 
another, having the same two possible an- 

220 



THE INTELLECTUALITY OF JESUS 

swers. They probably withdrew somewhat 
from the company to consider his question. 
And they reasoned not concerning the truth 
of John's baptism but concerning the conse- 
quences of each answer they might give. They 
were not seekers after truth, ready to confess 
it when found; they were intellectual posers. 
"Now they argued to themselves, 'If we say, 
"From heaven," he will ask, "Then why did 
you not believe him." No, let us say, "From 
men" ? — but they were afraid of the people, 
for the people all held John had been really 
a prophet." Then with intellectual insin- 
cerity they answered that they knew not 
whence it was. The victory was won. He had 
revealed them to themselves as not true seek- 
ers for the source of his authority. * They had 
not met his fair condition. It was easy for 
him to finish the encounter with "No more will 
I tell you what authority I have for acting 
as I do." In form he had not answered their 
question; in fact he had answered them, very 
much more effectively than if he had said in 
so many words : "If you had had the grace to 
recognize John's baptism as from heaven and 
had received it, you would then recognize with- 
out need to question that my authority is 
likewise from heaven. Not my word, but the 
inner witness of truth alone is convincing, 

221 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 

which you lack." But, instead of hating them- 
selves, they turned the more against him, 
hearing these and his following words, and 
wxmld have laid hold on him then and there 
but for their fear of the multitudes, who took 
him for a prophet. So they left him and went 
away for a season, while they thought out 
some still deeper difficulty with which to con- 
found him. 
The Question The Pharisees did not return themselves, 

of Tribute 

but sent spying disciples of theirs with their 
own enemies, the Herodians, feigning right- 
eous jealousy of Rome in behalf of Jewish 
nationality. With flattery they approached 
him with the question: "Is it right to pay 
taxes to Caesar, or not?" An affirmative an- 
swer meant he was not a Jewish patriot; a 
negative answer meant he was not a loyal 
subject of Rome. In either case they had 
something against him. They hoped he would 
give a negative answer which would enable 
them to deliver him up to the governor. 

Jesus perceived their craftiness. It was not 
a question on a quest for truth but put forth 
in battle for a conquest. He sternly de- 
manded: "Why tempt ye me? — bring me a 
penny, that I may see it." He would give 
them an unforgettable object lesson. They 
brought him a denarius. He asked: "Whose 

222 



THE INTELLECTUALITY OF JESUS 

likeness, whose inscription is this?" doubtless 
pointing to the effigy and legend on the Bo- 
man coin. They said unto him, "Caesar's." It 
was the current coin of the realm; with it 
public accounts were paid ; a silver coin, worth 
about twenty cents, issued by the Eoman im- 
perial authority; not the half -shekel with 
which the temple- tax was paid; "the money 
of the tribute" indeed. Having reminded 
them of these things, Jesus said: "Kender to 
Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God 
the things that are God's." 

Here he had taken the bull by both horns. 
He was a loyal subject of Eome; at the same 
time he had so answered as to give no offense 
to Jewish patriotic feeling, which had always 
construed itself in religious terms as render- 
ing unto God the things that are God's. There 
is also the clear intimation that, in springing 
such a question, they had not been themselves 
truly worshiping God. They marveled at his 
answer, were not able to take hold of it before 
the people, held their peace as though, literally, 
"muzzled," left him master of the field, and 
went their way. His disappointing answer to 
them did not deter them from falsely testi- 
fying the following Thursday night before 
Pilate that he had forbidden to give tribute 
to Caesar. 

223 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 

The Question The same day in Passion Week came the 
Relurrectioi skeptical, intellectual Sadducees, who said 
that there was no resurrection from the dead, 
bringing him the question: "In the resurrec- 
tion whose wife shall she be of the seven? for 
they all had her." The question was intended 
as a reductio ad dbsurdum of the doctrine of 
the resurrection, which had been first clearly 
stated in the book of Daniel, and later de- 
veloped in the apocryphal book of Enoch. 

In his reply Jesus answered both their ques- 
tions and them. They mistakenly supposed 
that the marital relation would continue 
after death, if there were a resurrection. In 
this they knew not the power of God. They 
also mistakenly supposed there was no resur- 
rection at all. In this they knew not the Scrip- 
tures. Jesus answered their question by say- 
ing the woman would be the wife of no one of 
the seven brethren, and he answered the Sad- 
ducees themselves by showing from the nature 
of God as implied in the Scriptures there was 
a resurrection. "Those who are considered 
worthy to attain yonder world and the resur- 
rection from the dead neither marry nor are 
married, for they cannot die any more; they 
are equal to angels, and by sharing in the 
resurrection they are sons of God. 

"But as touching the dead, that they rise: 

224 



THE INTELLECTUALITY OF JESUS 

have ye not read in the book of Moses, how 
in the bush God spake unto him, saying, I am 
the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, 
and the God of Jacob? He is not the God 
of the dead, but the God of the living; ye there- 
fore do greatly err." That is to say, Abraham, 
Isaac, and Jacob still live, have been raised 
from the dead, else God would be a God of the 
dead, which is repugnant to our notion of 
God. Thus again with originality and spirit- 
ual insight he both answers a question and 
refutes the questioners at once, bringing for- 
ward an unsuspected spiritual meaning out of 
familiar scriptural incidents. 

So the man "without letters" put to silence Effect of His 

Victory Over 

the learned Sadducees, the multitudes were the sadducees 
naturally astonished at his teaching, and even 
some of the scribes, compelled by the beauty 
and finality of his answer, spoke up and said : 
"Eight, teacher ! you have truly said." 

According to the record, only once did Jesus His Question 

Concerning the 

take the initiative in propounding difficult Christ 
questions. And this one he raised as a protest 
against the scribes thinking so much of the 
Messiah in physical relationship to David, and 
so little of him in spiritual relation to God. 
The question: "David therefore calleth him 
[the Christ] Lord, how is he then his son?" 
It was a new question to the Pharisees. They 

225 



JESUS— OUK STANDARD 

had thought and studied much about David, 
his greater Son to come, the temporal Mes- 
sianic reign. They had failed to note that 
David had called the Messiah his Lord, a term 
which David would never have applied to any 
descendant of his who should simply sit on 
his physical throne. The question is answer- 
able only by regarding the Messiah as spirit- 
ual, not as temporal. But this was against 
every prepossession of the Pharisees. And so 
no one of them was able to answer him a word. 
With one question he had revealed the real 
difficulty why the scholars of his generation 
would not accept him as Messiah. And again 
he had given a spiritual interpretation to a 
letter of Scripture. He himself had settled 
that question of the nature of the Messiah at 
the time of the temptation. So he did not call 
himself "Son of David," which would raise 
false expectation concerning the kind of king- 
dom he would establish, but he called himself 
preferably by the term borrowed from the 
book of Daniel, "Son of man." 
The critics This time he had silenced them indeed. By 

his answers he had shown himself the master 
of their questions, and by his answers and one 
question he had shown himself their master. 
"And no man after that durst ask him any 
question." They would resort to baser 

226 



Questions 



THE INTELLECTUALITY OF JESUS 

strategy. Even so, the common people heard 
him gladly, no doubt appreciating and enjoy- 
ing the discomfiture of their arrogant leaders 
at the hands, as it were, of one of their own. 

We have by no means reviewed all the illus- other 
trations that might be cited to show the readi- 
ness and cleverness of Jesus in handling in- 
tellectually the forms of argumentation of his 
day. It is a study in itself. "And who is my 
neighbor?" "We be Abraham's seed: how 
say est thou, ye shall be made free?" "Are 
there few that be saved?" "Which is the great 
commandment in the law?" and many more 
such questions they asked him. He too asked 
his critics what seemed to them no doubt an 
absurd question, yet it put them in a dilemma 
in which they held their peace: "Is it lawful 
on the Sabbath days to do good, or to do evil?" 
In fact, the mind of Jesus in conflict with 
his critics played with religious truth, so 
thoroughly had he mastered every difficulty. 
But their mind was so closed against new 
truth by religious prejudice that not even he 
could win them. So he thanked the Father 
that, hiding these things from the wise and 
prudent, he had revealed them unto babes, 
even unto his unsophisticated Galilsean disci- 
ples who loved him, did as he said, had the 
witness to his truth within them, and agreed 

227 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 

with their spokesman, Peter, that he had the 
words of eternal life. 

V. The Marvel of His Wisdom 

The wisdom of Jesus was a marvel both to 
his old friends and his new foes alike. In 
Nazareth, where he had been brought up, they 
all bore him witness, and wondered at the 
words of grace which proceeded out of his 
mouth. But many hearing him were aston- 
ished and said: "From whence hath this man 
these things? Is not this the carpenter, the 
son of Mary, and brother of James and Joses, 
and Juda, and Simon? And are not his sis- 
ters with us?" Their many questions reveal 
how offended they were in him. Likewise in 
Jerusalem, when he was teaching in the tem- 
ple in the midst of the feast of the tabernacles, 
the Jews marveled and said, "How does this 
man know anything of books?" (Weymouth.) 
They meant, having never attended one of the 
scribal colleges. 

1. Two Sources of His Knowledge. How 
shall we answer the same question? The evan- 
gelists clearly indicate two sources of the 
knowledge which Jesus had — experience and 
Divine intuition. The first involves his tute- 
lage by man and nature, the second his tute- 
lage by God. Throughout the whole process 

228 



THE INTELLECTUALITY OF JESUS 

of his acquisition of knowledge he was yield- 
ing to the leading of the spirit within. A few 
words about each of these sources of his 
knowledge. 

2. His Formal Acquisitions. The formal 
acquisitions of Jesus involved at least an 
ability to write and to read. Twice upon one 
and the same occasion he stooped and wrote 
on the ground, in what language or what 
words we know not. In the Nazareth syna- 
gogue at his first sermon he stood up to read, 
received the book, or roll, of the prophet 
Isaiah, opened it, found the sixty-first chap- 
ter, and read. Then he closed the book, 
handed it back to the synagogue attendant, 
and sat down to teach. He may have read 
Isaiah in the original Hebrew, or in an Ara- 
maic paraphrase, it being necessary in his day 
to paraphrase the original Hebrew in Ara- 
maic for the people to understand it. As his 
quotations from the Old Testament are usually 
from the Greek Septuagint translation instead 
of from the original Hebrew, it is possible that 
he could read Greek, though another possi- 
bility is that the evangelists who reported his 
speech used the Septuagint. As the Greeks 
would see Jesus, not out of bare curiosity but 
to converse with him, it is possible that he 
understood Greek, though another possibility 

229 



JESUS— OUK STANDARD 

is that Andrew, whose name is Greek and 
who was of Bethsaida where Greek was com- 
monly spoken, acted as interpreter. The spoken 
language of Jesus was Aramaic; so our Eng- 
lish Xew Testament, based on the Greek Xew 
Testament, is a translation of a translation, 
and in the quotations from the Old Testament 
is an English translation of a Greek transla- 
tion of a Hebrew original. Apart from the 
question of the languages which Jesus may 
have spoken, understood, and read, we are 
sure that his formal acquisitions involved the 
ability to read, write, and think in numerical 
terms. "Seventy times seven." he savs to Peter. 
He makes a king in one of his parables raise 
the question whether with ten thousand he 
can go against twenty thousand. In addition, 
Jesus had an ability to interpret spiritually 
the old Scriptures which no existent school 
of exegesis of his day could have given him, 
which, indeed, if possible, it would have taken 
away from him. 

3. Home Training. The law in Deute- 
ronomy (6. 6, 7) made every Jewish home a 
school and every Jewish parent a teacher. 
Josephus says that every Jewish child "from 
the very dawn of understanding learned the 
Law by heart, and had it, as it were, engraved 
on his soul." Further, he was trained to keep 

230 



THE INTELLECTUALITY OF JESUS 

the feast, fast, and holy days, to join in the 
prayers and grace at meat, and, when large 
enough to journey so far, to attend the 
chief festivals at the temple in Jerusalem, 
even before he was a "son of the law" at 
twelve. 

4. School Training. At the age of six or 
seven the boy went to the elementary school. 
For some two hundred years practically every 
Jewish town had had a synagogue and prac- 
tically every synagogue had a school. It was 
a place of instruction as well as worship. It 
was known as "The House of the Book," which 
indicates its curriculum. Here reading, writ- 
ing, and memorizing the Law were taught. 
Jesus frequently taught as well as preached 
in the synagogues of the Jews. 

In all probability, in view of the pious ob- Religious 
servance of the law by his parents, the youth- 
ful Jesus did all these things. In addition, 
he formed the habit of attending the Sabbath 
services in the synagogue, where he heard the 
Law read in Hebrew, paraphrased in Ara- 
maic, and interpreted. He may not improb- 
ably have himself so read along with others 
of his townsmen before he was thirty, but, if 
so, not in a way to arouse their expectations 
concerning him, as his later coming forth was 
a great surprise, even shock, to them. 

231 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 



Not a 

"College 

Graduate" 



Knowledge by 
Experience 



Action Guided 
by Perception 



Being destined by social custom to follow 
his father's occupation and become a carpen- 
ter, not being intended for a scribe or rabbi, 
he was not sent to one of the scribal colleges 
or House of the Midrash. When he was 
twelve he was a remarkable student for three 
days of one of these institutions in the temple 
in Jerusalem. He was not there as a teacher 
of the doctors of the Law, but as an interested 
auditor and questioner. He astonished the 
learned men by his understanding and an- 
swers. It shows that he had been taught of 
nature and of God some things not learned 
in the Nazareth "House of the Book." This 
process continued for eighteen more years dur- 
ing the full ripening of his soul. 

The idea that Jesus acquired knowledge 
through an expanding experience of men and 
things is strictly Scriptural. The physician 
Luke, with an eye for development, distinctly 
says of the period before twelve: "And the 
child grew and became strong; he was filled 
with wisdom, and the grace of God was on 
him" (2. 40), and of the period after twelve: 
"And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, 
and in favor with God and men" (2. 52). 

Like other men, Jesus acquired knowledge 
of sensible things, was guided by his senses, 
and made inferences concerning inner states 

232 



THE INTELLECTUALITY OF JESUS 

of mind from outward appearances. "When 
Jesus saw it, he was moved with indignation." 
"So when Jesus disembarked he saw a large 
crowd, and out of pity for them, as they were 
like sheep without a shepherd, he proceeded 
to teach them at length." "And when he saw 
the city, as he approached, he wept over it." 
"But as Jesus knew of it, he retired from the 
spot." "But Jesus detected their malice. He 
said: 'Why do you tempt me, you hypo- 
crites?' " "But Jesus was aware of what they 
said, and he replied, 'Why are you annoying 
this woman?' " "Conscious at once that they 
were arguing to themselves in this way, Jesus 
asked them, 'Why do you argue thus in your 
hearts?' " "He noted this and said to them, 
'Why do you argue you have no bread?' " 
"Jesus saw him lying, and knowing he had 
been ill for a long while he said to him, 'Do 
you want your health restored?' " "Where- 
fore Jesus perceived they meant to come and 
seize him, to make a king of him ; so he with- 
drew by himself to the hill again." "Jesus 
knew they wanted to ask him, so he said to 
them," etc. Such familiar expressions of the 
Gospels clearly indicate that Jesus acquired 
part of his knowledge in the usual human way, 
and was guided accordingly. 

It is possible — indeed, probable — that his 

233 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 

Development views experienced some development and 
coS H Forth? m °difi ca tion during the three years of his pub- 
lic ministry. Surprises were in store for him 
at belief beyond Israel and unbelief within 
Israel, and betrayal by his only Judaean disci- 
ple. Undoubtedly he was disappointed in not 
winning his people to accept him. He desired 
it wholly. Even after excoriating the Phari- 
sees for rejecting him, he wept over the city 
which he tenderly loved. He adjusted himself 
to these unforeseen circumstances. The con- 
tent of his message shifted somewhat from the 
ethical present to the spiritual future. At 
the rising signs of opposition he speaks more 
of his death, adopts the parable as a safer 
form of instruction, and widens his outlook 
toward the Gentiles. 

5. The Wide Range of His Information. 
The experience of Jesus, both in and out of 
school, mainly out, thus brought him a great 
fund of common knowledge. From the range 
of the content of his teaching it is evident that 
until he was thirty Jesus was not only a car- 
penter but a student of Scripture and a care- 
ful observer of the ways of men and nature, 
being even before twelve and all the while 
conscious of God as his Father. This is the 
central point of his consciousness, and his 
later public ministry, both in deed and word. 

234 



THE INTELLECTUALITY OP JESUS 

His teaching is a reflex of the life of Palestine 
of his time, in its agricultural, commercial, 
industrial, domestic, social, military, political, 
and religious phases. The sower, vine-dresser, 
shepherd, pearl merchant, two women grind- 
ing at the mill, tailor, the woman sweeping 
or leavening dough, the man with his children 
in bed, the hen and her brood, marriages, 
feasts, kings, the military trench and embank- 
ment, Caesar, the Eoman eagles, the Law, the 
scribes, Sadducees, Pharisees, publicans, sin- 
ners, common people, money, philanthropy, 
the poor, labor, wages, the observance of the 
Sabbath, fasting, ceremonial washings, tith- 
ing, birth, death — these all, and almost in- 
numerable other things figure in his life and 
teaching. Even a brief summary of his knowl- 
edge acquired from experience as indicated in 
the Gospels would appear as almost encyclo- 
paedic for his day, and reflect not only the 
great range of his information but his eager 
interest in nature and man. There is not the 
slightest intimation that Jesus was not a well- 
informed man in whatsoever company he might 
be placed, whether Koman or Jewish. But all 
of this information he kept not for its own 
sake but for use in teaching a religion of the 
spirit. 
Did Jesus possess supernatural knowledge 

235 



JESUS— OUE STANDARD 



Supernatural 
Knowledge of 
Sense World? 



His 

Omnipresence, 

Omnipotence, 

and 

Omniscience 

Not in the 

Flesh 



of the sense world? Some passages may seem 
to indicate that he did. How did he know 
that the woman of Samaria had had five hus- 
bands? that Nathanael had been meditating 
under a fig tree? that his disciples would find 
an ass tied in the village? that a man bearing 
a pitcher of water would meet them in Jeru- 
salem? Some see in these instances the exer- 
cise of supernatural knowledge on the part of 
Jesus, others the results of information re- 
ceived normally, though in an unspecified 
manner, for example, that Jesus had actually 
seen Nathanael as he says, that he had ar- 
ranged on these signals with unnamed friends 
in preparation for the triumphal entry and 
the Last Supper. Furthermore, there are 
some other sense facts, equally involved in his 
ministry, which he clearly did not know, of 
which we will take account in a moment. So, 
unless we are willing to multiply mysteries 
beyond necessity in the interest of the theory 
that Jesus was omniscient, the above instances 
may well be regarded as cases of knowledge 
attained in customary, though unrecorded, 
ways. 

In passing, it may be remarked that Jesus 
was not omnipresent, that he was not in two 
places at the same time, and that he journeyed 
from one place to another, though once by a 

236 



THE INTELLECTUALITY OF JESUS 

miraculous process in appearing to his disci- 
ples in distress in the boat on the lake, his 
miracles without exception always being to 
help someone other than himself. Also, that 
he was not omnipotent, saying that of himself 
he could do nothing, that his Father was 
greater than he, and of whom Mark says, 
"There he could not do any miracle" (6. 5), 
referring to the unbelief in Nazareth. So, if 
Jesus was not omnipresent, nor omnipotent, 
he may well also have been not omniscient. 
These conclusions need not surprise us, if we 
accept the view that it was indeed flesh which 
the Word became. This is part of the self- 
emptying process described by Paul. His 
second method of acquiring knowledge, by 
divine intuition, we have to consider later. 

6. Borne Things Jesus Did Not Know. So 
we may properly consider next some things 
indicated by the Gospels that Jesus did not 
know. This does not detract from our rever- 
ence for him, unless we are willing to revere 
a fictitious Christ not of the Gospels. The 
first and most striking thing of all is his own 
statement: "Now no one knows anything 
about that day or hour, not even the angels in 
heaven, but only the Father" (Mark 13. 32). 
There is a parallel statement in Matthew. As 
the gospel writers were concerned to exalt, 

237 



JESUS— OUK STANDARD 

not to limit, the figure of Christ, we may be 
sure there is foundation in fact for this state- 
ment in the words of Jesus. It agrees also 
with his parable of the Seed Growing Un- 
observed: "He knoweth not how" (Mark 4. 
27). So, it is important to notice, Jesus does 
not claim to know everything, nor does any 
evangelist make this claim for him, omitting, 
of course, the periods before birth and after 
death. During the days of his earthly humili- 
ation Jesus had unusual, but not unlimited, 
knowledge. 
His Questions He asked questions to gain information and 
he showed surprise, both in keeping with a 
state of limited knowledge. "Who touched 
my garments ?" "How many loaves have ye? 
Go and see." "How long time is it since this 
hath come unto him?" "Where have ye laid 
him?" These are the questions of one seeking 
desired information. He showed surprise at 
the centurion's faith and at the unbelief of the 
citizens of Nazareth. And he came to the 
barren iig tree, "if haply he might find any- 
thing thereon." It is gratuitous Docetism, as 
well as an unworthy reflection upon the sin- 
cerity of his character, to suppose he is really 
possessed all the time of the knowledge he 
seeks and that he feigns surprise. 

7. Medical and Literary Views. Like the 

238 



for 
Information 



THE INTELLECTUALITY OF JESUS 

men of his time, he regarded mental diseases 
as due to demon-possession. Some of these 
diseases were evidently cases of religious in- 
sanity. Such demons were cast out by "sons 
of the Pharisees" and by other unrighteous 
persons who in the Day of Judgment, he said, 
would remind him of it in vain. He too cast 
them out, or, as we should say, restored sanity 
by suggestion, with sympathetic and righteous 
motive. He likewise reflects the current views 
in referring to Jonah as a prophet and to the 
one hundred and tenth Psalm as David's, 
though these views are not commonly held by 
the competent to-day. He did not claim to 
be an alienist or literary critic of the Scrip- 
ture. He was working the works of God in 
cures and warning his generation that the 
Mnevites had repented at Jonah's preaching 
and showing the scribes that even according 
to David it was more important for the Mes- 
siah to be related to God than to David. It 
is nothing against the knowledge of Jesus that 
in some matters not essential to his work he 
should reflect the views of his contemporaries. 
The marvel is that he could see so much more 
of spiritual significance in what was at hand 
than they. 

8. His References to Future Events. With 
reference to the future Jesus correctly fore- 

239 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 

told his own death and resurrection and the 
doom of Jerusalem, as a true prophet with 
insight and choice, though certain of his words 
about the future, apocalyptic in character, have 
been only spiritually, not literally, fulfilled. 
"You will not have covered the towns of Israel 
before the Son of man arrives." "I will tell 
you truly, there are some of those standing 
here who will not taste death till they see 
the Son of man coming himself to reign" 
(Matt. 10. 23; 16. 28). It is possible Jesus 
meant these sayings of his to be interpreted 
as spirit and life, not as letter. 

9. Divine Intuition. It is time to consider 
the second source of his knowledge and its 
effects upon his reading the facts of the reli- 
gious life, which have in turn so modified 
human religious experience. When the Jews 
marveled at his teaching and said, "How 
knoweth this man letters, having never 
learned?" Jesus himself gave the very sig- 
nificant answer: "My teaching is not my 
own, but his who sent me. Anyone who 
chooses to do his will, will understand whether 
my teaching comes from God or whether I am 
talking on my own authority." That is, the 
truth he taught came to him from God, of 
which any person could convince himself by 
undertaking to do the will of God. Millions 

240 



THE INTELLECTUALITY OF JESUS 

have accepted the condition and found it even 
as he said. 

This supreme source of his knowledge of God within 
religious truth, that is, the whole field of 
man's relation to God, Jesus repeatedly 
asserted in various terms: "The Son can do 
nothing of his own accord, nothing but what 
he sees the Father doing." "I can do nothing 
of my own accord: I pass judgment on men 
as I am taught of God, and my judgment is 
just, because my aim is not my own will but 
the will of him who sent me." "He who sent me 
is true, and so I tell the world what I have 
learned from him." "I do nothing of my own 
accord, but speak as the Father has taught 
me." "I speak as the Father has told me." 
"The Father who sent me, he it was who 
ordered me what to say and what to speak." 
"The words I speak to you I do not speak 
of my own accord; it is the Father who re- 
mains ever in me, who is performing his own 
deeds." 

These quotations are all from John, but The son the 
Matthew is equally clear, though not at such of^eFltheT 
length: "All has been handed over to me by 
my Father : and no one knows the Son except 
the Father — nor does anyone know the Father 
except the Son and he to whom the Son 
chooseth to reveal him" (11. 27). Here are 

241 



JESUS— OUE STANDARD 



His Second 
Source of 

Knowledge 



The Witness 
Within 



three truly wonderful statements whose sig- 
nificance deepens with meditation. 

We conclude, then, that the second source 
of knowledge Jesus is presented as having is 
divine intuition; that is, an internal and im- 
mediate awareness of moral and religious 
truth through the indwelling spirit of God. 

10. His Central Truth. The most remark- 
able of these truths is that God was his Father 
and the Father of all men. From this every- 
thing else flows. It was an insight of his 
attained before he was twelve, requiring only 
to be exemplified and taught among men. 
Such was the consciousness of Jesus, the cen- 
ter of his being. From this central truth come 
other truths: his Sonship and the sonship of 
all men, his Messiahship, his authority, his 
inspiration, his revelation, his exaltation. 

It is a consciousness the deliverance of 
which Christians have proved in practice 
everywhere at all times. Yet these deliver- 
ances cannot be proved to non-Christians by 
signs, wonders, or Euclid, but only by inner 
experience as one wills to do the will of God. 

11. The Source of His Consciousness. How 
did Jesus attain this consciousness? Here 
ancient and modern philosophies and theolo- 
gies and modern psychologies exhaust them- 
selves. Mark offers no explanation. Matthew 

242 



THE INTELLECTUALITY OF JESUS 

and Luke report his miraculous birth, to 
which he never refers and which would have 
been one of those outer signs to which he at- 
tached no spiritual significance. John uses 
the theory of the Logos, foreign to Jesus's own 
way of thinking. Harnack says, "No psy- 
chology will ever fathom it." 1 Yet, Jesus him- 
self gives us the clue : "Anyone who chooses 
to do his will, will understand whether my 
teaching comes from God or whether I am 
talking on my own authority." This was part 
of his answer to the Jews who were wondering 
at the source of his teaching. He only sec- 
onded at every point the movement of the 
spirit of God dwelling in his own soul. This 
was as far as he went in his answer. We need 
hardly try to go further as he also said, "No 
one knoweth the Son, save the Father." 

This judgment of his soul, that God was his Humility 
his Father and that he, as Son, was his re- ^_ Assert ion 
vealer, he himself sacredly affirmed, yet with 
humility, as one "meek and lowly in heart," 
as "he that serveth." His isolated self could 
do nothing, his self in the Father, conscious 
of unity, possessed all things. Of this larger 
divine self he could without blasphemy say: 
"Ye have heard that it hath been said unto 

Compare G. Stanley Hall, Jesus, the Christ, in the 
Light of Psychology, 2 vols., New York, 1917. 

243 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 

you [in the Law] . . . , but I say unto you" ; 
"One greater than the temple is here"; "A 
greater than Jonah is here"; "A greater 
than Solomon is here"; "The Son of man is 
lord even of the Sabbath"; "He had still one 
left, a beloved son; he sent him to them last, 
saying, 'They will respect my son' " ; "I am the 
light of the world"; "Before Abraham was, I 
am" ; "I and the Father are one." 

12. His Knowledge of the Scriptures. This 
consciousness that the Father was speaking 
through him explains his attitude toward the 
Scriptures which had nourished his soul. He 
knew the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms — 
the three divisions of the Hebrew Scriptures. 
Of their thirty-nine books he is recorded as 
quoting fourteen, namely, Genesis, Exodus, 
Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Samuel, 
Kings, Psalms, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, 
Hosea, Zechariah, and Malachi. Some of these 
are quoted several times, and his thought 
shows the influence of other books — for ex- 
ample, his words about wisdom and her chil- 
dren suggest Proverbs. He quoted most from 
Isaiah, Psalms, Hosea, and Deuteronomy; 
that is, the prophets, the devotional hymns, 
and the spiritual rendering of the law. With 
Isaiah he begins his ministry and later justi- 
fies it to the Baptist, and condemns the scribes 

244 



THE INTELLECTUALITY OF JESUS 

and Pharisees for lip-service and teaching the 
precepts of men. With the Psalms he speaks 
of the chief corner stone, the Christ as Son 
of David, and on the cross utters both his 
despairing cry and his final word of recovered 
faith. With Hosea he refers more than once 
each to God's desire for mercy and not sacri- 
fice, and to his own resurrection on the third 
day (Hos. 6. 2). With Deuteronomy he three 
times repels the tempter. With the Septua- 
gint form of Isaiah he condemns Capernaum 
(Isa. 14. 13-17). With Isaiah, Jeremiah, and 
Malachi he cleanses the temple. With the ex- 
ample of David he defended his Sabbath-day 
conduct. With the Commandments he an- 
swered the question of the rich young man. 
From Daniel he draws the title by which he 
prefers to be known — "Son of man." From 
the Scriptures he expounds the suffering of 
the Christ on the road to Emmaus. The natu- 
ralness with which Old Testament thoughts 
and expressions rise in his mind and fall from 
his lips, the ready use he makes of these in 
meeting the needs and issues of his own day, 
show the thoroughness with which he had 
assimilated the religious records of his race. 

That he knew the books of history, rated His Knowledge 
as a part of the Law, as well as the Prophets, Historical 
the Psalms, and the laws, appears from his Books 

245 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 



Consonance of 
His Views 
with Other 
Material 



His Respect 
for the Torah 



illustrative, not historical or critical, use of 
the accounts of Noah, Lot, Sodom, the Cities 
of the Plain, Tyre, Sidon, David, Elijah, 
Elisha, Solomon, Jonah, Abel, Zachariah, and 
the ill treatment of the prophets. 

His knowledge covered apocryphal books 
not contained in our Old Testament. His 
reference (Luke 11. 51) to Zachariah is prob- 
ably drawn from the Book of Enoch (9. 1), 
which also describes the imminence of redemp- 
tion, the twelve thrones, Gehenna, demons, 
and the resurrection. The Psalms of Solomon 
refer to the expected deliverer as "Christ," as 
the "Son of David," and describe the right- 
eousness of the scribes and Pharisees. But 
similarity of thought does not necessarily 
mean borrowing. 

Jesus not only knew the old Law, but he 
appreciated and respected it. He used its 
texts as a basis for his discourses. He taught 
obedience to those who sit in Moses' seat, 
through respect for the office, not the officers. 
"What does Moses command you?" "What 
is written in the Law, how readest thou?" he 
would ask. He said not a jot or tittle should 
pass from the Law till all be fulfilled. His 
own mission and teaching he regarded as not 
destroying but fulfilling the Law and the 
Prophets. And he made keeping and teaching 

246 



Fulfilled the 
Law 



THE INTELLECTUALITY OF JESUS 

the commandments a basis for promotion in 
the Kingdom. But, conscious of the superior 
interpretation he gave to Scripture, indeed, 
which he himself was, he could say with force- 
ful figure : "All who ever came before me have 
been thieves and robber s." 

So Jesus always kept his intellectual in- How He 
tegrity and independence in treating the 
Scriptures, recognizing not their error but 
their incompleteness, and affirming the judg- 
ment of his own soul in completing and inter- 
preting them. It is wrong to kill, and also 
to have a murderous motive. It is wrong to 
commit adultery, and also to harbor lecherous 
thoughts. It is wrong to swear falsely, and 
also to swear at all in a world of sacred 
things. It is wrong to exact more than an 
eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, and 
even to exact anything whatever in retalia- 
tion. He was no literalist in interpretation. 
The stories of the creation of male and female 
and of the burning bush meant more to him 
than the letter said; the one passage meant 
no divorce, and the other immortality. In 
this he showed his spiritual originality in in- 
terpretation. 

13. His Rejection of the Scribes as Inter- 
preters. Because his interpretations of Scrip- 
ture and his teachings about the Father were 

247 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 

new and original, the people marveled. He 
was a voice, not an echo. He gave judgments, 
not opinions of others. He taught with au- 
thority, not as the scribes. In fact, he rejected 
outright the traditional interpretations of the 
Law, venerated in his day even beyond the 
original. He plainly and courageously told 
the scribes that they understood neither Scrip- 
ture nor the power of God, that they made the 
Word void by their traditions, and that they 
bound burdens grievous to be borne on man 
without lifting a finger themselves, and that 
they neither entered the Kingdom themselves, 
nor permitted others to enter. It was prob- 
ably rather to those oppressed by legalistic 
burdens of mint, anise, and cummin than to 
the laboring classes that he addressed the invi- 
tation : "Come unto me, all ye that labor and 
are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." 
Four contrasts The intellectual perspective of Jesus, in con- 
fetencetem trast with that of the scribes, placed emphasis 
on the inner relation to God rather than the 
outer relation to the Law, and to the tradi- 
tions that had grown up about it through the 
interpretations of the elders; on the present 
character of the Kingdom, which was "at 
hand," "come near to you," "among you," 
rather than on the future coming of a de- 
liverer; on the spiritual rather than the tem- 

248 



THE INTELLECTUALITY OF JESUS 

poral character of the Kingdom; and on the 
relation of the individual, rather than the 
nation as a whole, to the Father. 

14. His Originality. These four contrasts 
constitute a part of his intellectual originality, 
though the prophets and John the Baptist 
shared all of these views except that of the 
spirituality of the Kingdom ; Jesus sharpened 
them all by his example and teaching; they 
made it impossible for the religious leaders 
of his people to accept, or even correctly un- 
derstand, him; and they made it impossible 
for him to remain contented with the syna- 
gogue and necessary for him to found his 
church on the new confession of himself as 
the Christ. His leading ideas — Fatherhood, 
Sonship, the Kingdom and its virtues — spring 
indeed out of Jewish soil, but they bear other 
than Jewish fruit. The reasons were that he 
lived them, and so individualized them, and 
taught them for all, and so universalized them. 
Thus it was that Jewish national ideals be- 
came in Christianity personal and interna- 
tional. The modern thoughtful Jew who re- 
jects Christianity does so because he prefers 
a principle to a Person ; yet he still looks for 
One who should come. The originality of 
Jesus consists in his having done something 
new — lived as a Son ; and said something new 

249 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 

— God is spirit, also my Father, and your 
Father. In consequence, his followers are 
sons of liberty, not subject to legalism. Per- 
haps Jeremiah before Jesus had most ap- 
proached his type of suffering experience, 
though far removed from the consciousness of 
Fatherhood and Sonship which Jesus had. 
The idea of the Fatherhood of God appears 
in the Old Testament, but it does not occupy 
the central and consistent place Jesus gave it. 
Perhaps every idea of Jesus, except the love 
of enemies, can measurably be duplicated in 
the old and contemporary Hebrew writings — 
his originality does not consist so much in say- 
ing something different as in saying it differ- 
ently, and in selecting, unifying, and, most of 
all, exemplifying his teaching. Thus two 
things about Jesus are original, his person- 
ality and his teaching, the latter in what it 
excludes and emphasizes. 

VI. Jesus as Philosopher 

We will conclude our account of the intel- 
lectuality of Jesus with a brief survey of what 
may be called his philosophy, or view of the 
world. We must hasten at once to say that 
Jesus is not a philosopher in the usual sense 
of this term, namely, a systematic theorizer 
concerning the first principles of existence. 

250 



THE INTELLECTUALITY OF JESUS 

Jesus does not speculate or reason abstractly ; 
he asserts. His appeal is not primarily to 
man's reasoning ability, but to his heart, con- 
science, and common sense. Still, Jesus had 
a world-view, a very pronounced one, though 
nowhere systematically expounded. It under- 
lies and is presupposed by all his deeds and 
it appears here and there incidentally and 
sometimes centrally in his teaching. Espe- 
cially is it embodied in his manner of life. 

1. A World of Persons. The first thing to 
note is that the world to Jesus is essentially, 
though not exclusively, a world of persons. 
These occupy the foreground of his conscious- 
ness. They include, first of all, the Father, 
the term which Jesus commonly used in teach- 
ing about God, and always in prayer, except in 
the despairing cry from the cross; and also, 
angels, men, Satan, and demons. There is 
no doubt also that in this world of persons 
Jesus was conscious himself of occupying a 
unique relation to the Father, to men, and 
to the works of Satan, "the prince of this 
world." 

We must briefly consider the thought of The Father 

Central 

Jesus concerning each member of this world 
of persons. Of these, the figure of the Father 
occupies the center of his thinking. How 
Jesus came to think of God as Father we can- 

251 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 

not be sure. It was probably through the 
selective tenderness of his own soul as he read 
the Old Testament, coupled with the loving 
kindness of his father Joseph to Jesus. The 
Jehovah of the Old Testament, though mainly 
thought of as Creator, God of battles, King, 
and Judge, is also portrayed as calling Israel, 
his son, out of Egypt, and pitying like a father 
those that fear him. However Jesus reached 
this conception, it so dominated his thinking, 
even from the tender age of twelve, that it 
practically ceased to be a figure of speech, and 
was for him a vital experience. 
The Loving The term "Father" as applied to God occurs 

? athe * . . forty-five times in Matthew, five in Mark, 
the Loving Son seventeen in Luke, and ninety times in John, 
the latest Gospel to be written, indicating 
how the conception of love and Fatherhood 
stood out more and more in the ministry of 
Jesus with the lapse of time. God is the lov- 
ing Father of all men, prodigals as well as 
righteous elder brothers, and he is Father not 
primarily through any creative act, though 
God "made them male and female," but sim- 
ply because he loves. Not even the philo- 
sophical Gospel of John puts any metaphysi- 
cal words in the mouth of Jesus. The rela- 
tions of Father and sons and Son are all prac- 
tical relations of love, and obedience revealing 

252 



THE INTELLECTUALITY OF JESUS 

love. Jesus found in his own soul love for 
all men, all sorts and conditions of men and 
women and children. So living, through 
identifying himself with all, the sick, the 
prisoner, the hungry, the naked, he was the 
"Son of man," and so living, he revealed the 
love of the Father for men, it not being pos- 
sible that he should be more loving than God, 
and in this way was the "Son of God." 

The relations of the Father to the world of The Father's 

Pr&ctic&l 

nature and man are described in practical Relations to 
terms. To him as "Our Father" the prayer Men and 

r " Things 

of disciples is made in adoration, confession, 
and petition for body and soul. He is holy, 
his spirit assists, it may be spoken against 
with "eternal sin," and by it devils are cast 
out at the word of Jesus. He may be met in 
the inner chamber, he reveals his truth to 
babes, he speaks through Jesus and the disci- 
ples, and he gives the persecuted what to say 
under trial. His loving kindness through 
natural agencies is impartial to all men, as 
he makes his sun to rise on the evil and the 
good and sends rain on the just and the un- 
just. This impartial love is his perfection, 
and men, though "being evil," are likewise to 
be perfect, and love and pray even for enemies, 
that they may indeed be "sons of your Father 
who is in heaven." Especially does he give 

253 



God 



JESUS—CUE STANDARD 

good things, even the gift of the Spirit, to 
them that ask him. 
Attributes of (1) God. The thought which Jesus had 

of God as distinct from his fatherly relations 
to man includes his unity, truth, spiritual 
existence, his unceasing activity, and provi- 
dential relation to the world, as well as know- 
ing and being able to do all things. He quotes 
the monotheistic, at least the henotheistic, 
words of the Old Testament : "Hear, O Israel, 
the Lord our God is one God" (Henotheism 
means God is one, though there may be other 
gods ; monotheism means God is one, and there 
are no other gods). He affirms monotheism 
in making eternal life to consist in knowing 
"the only true God." In prophetic language 
the heaven is described as the throne of God 
and the earth as the footstool of his feet. The 
whole world is the Father's house, in which 
are many mansions. Unlike the Jehovah of 
the Jews, who rested from his labors on the 
Sabbath day, he works unceasingly, which 
was the justification to Jesus for doing good 
on the Sabbath. With wonderfully sweet and 
poetic imagery, the natural outpouring of his 
spiritually sensitive soul, Jesus describes God 
as Lord of heaven and earth, clothing the grass 
of the field, arraying the lilies with a splendor 
past Solomon's man-made robes, feeding the 

254 



THE INTELLECTUALITY OF JESUS 

ravens and the birds of the air, entering into 
the tragedy of life as well as its beauty in 
marking the sparrow's fall, and as numbering 
the very hairs of the head. 

Thus the whole of the physical order of Providence 
things is itself providential, revealing the pres- 
ence, the power, the care, and the sympathy 
of God. It is all so natural, both the exist- 
ence of nature, and God, and God's working 
through nature at every point. There is no 
slightest hint that a Providence which is uni- 
versal either needs, or does, "violate" any 
existent order in its ministration. God in 
nature to Jesus is not a matter of philosophic 
thought, but of religious consciousness. Thus, 
on another occasion, he can say that the earth, 
previously regarded as the footstool of God's 
feet, "bringeth forth fruit of herself." A 
philosopher of the schools would have wanted 
to "reconcile" the two apparently discrepant 
statements. How can the earth fructify 
of itself ', he would have asked, if it is at the 
same time a divine footstool? Jesus affirms 
God; he does not prove his existence, or sys- 
tematically expound his nature. And all this 
providential relationship of God to nature 
and to man through nature, Jesus uses to 
reach the practical religious conclusion that 
God knows we have need of meat, drink, and 

255 



JESUS— OUK STANDARD 

clothing, and that therefore there is no occa- 
sion for anxious thought. If God cares for 
the birds which do not sow, and reap, and 
gather into barns, how much more shall he 
care for the rational creatures that do these 
things ! The thought of Jesus is not that men 
should live as the birds. 

God is spirit Of all the affirmations of Jesus concerning 
God, perhaps the most philosophical is that 
"God is Spirit," but he at once passes to the 
two practical conclusions that men must wor- 
ship in spirit and that God seeks spiritual 
worshipers; that is, not provincial, legalistic, 
or ceremonial, but sincerely loving and inner 
worshipers. The seeking of God for such wor- 
shipers suggests that God takes the initiative 
in religion, that his love follows the prodigal 
and his eye waits on the road for his return. 

Power and God has all power and all knowledge. With 

him all things are possible. Such phrases as 
"the power of God," "the right hand of power," 
"come with power," are repeatedly on his lips. 
It was God's power, not his own, that Jesus 
used, who, of himself, could "do nothing." 
Though there was force in the world not 
exerted by men in accordance with God's will, 
which would take the Kingdom violently, 
which would compel him to be a king, which 
Pilate too exercised over him, all such force 

256 



Knowledge 



THE INTELLECTUALITY OF JESUS 

was "given from above." The knowledge of 
the day of the coming of the Son of man, 
denied to all men, to the angels, even to the 
Son, the Father possessed. 

Speaking a language foreign to the thought 
of Jesus, we may summarize his view of God 
as not materialistic nor pantheistic, nor 
deistic, nor agnostic, but theistic. 1 

(2) Angels. In his views concerning God 
and the Father, Jesus made his most original 
and most valuable contribution to religious 
thinking. In his views concerning angels, his 
thought is practically one with that of his 
times and of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, 
his biographers. Two main motives lead to 
belief in angels: first, the thought of God 
apart from the world, yet not alone, but sur- 
rounded by a company; second, the need of 
messengers from a remote God to men on the 
earth. Both of these motives had supplied 
the Persian as well as the Jewish religion with 
belief in angels before Jesus came. 



1 Readers who are not familiar with these terms need 
not be disturbed by them. Materialism holds the world is 
ultimately matter. Pantheism holds that the unknown 
All is God. Deism holds that God is not intimately 
concerned with man's affairs — "The gods care for large 
and neglect small things," said Cicero. Agnosticism 
says man does not and cannot know the ultimate. 
Theism holds there is a personal God. 

257 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 

His views Jesus uses a military figure in referring to 

concerning ^ e «£ we i ve legions of angels" his Father 

would send to his aid in answer to prayer. 
The Son of man would confess or deny before 
the angels those who had confessed or denied 
him before men. The disciples are told to 
rejoice because their names "are written in 
heaven," presumably in a book kept by an 
angel. Jesus told the Sadducees that those 
accounted worthy to attain the heavenly world 
are "equal to the angels." They are holy, they 
are glorious, they will attend the Son of man 
at his coming, and it is they who do the will 
of God in heaven as it should be done in earth. 
As there are no marriages in heaven, men and 
women being equal to the angels, it is clear 
Jesus thought of the angels as asexual. Like 
the Son, not even the angels know the day of 
his second coming. The angels of little ones 
continually behold the Father's face. They 
rejoice over one sinner that repenteth. At the 
temptation Jesus rejected the idea of tempting 
God by casting himself down from the pin- 
nacle of the temple, expecting angels to bear 
him up, but received instead, following the 
temptations, the ministration of angels — the 
story of the temptation being autobiographi- 
cal. Luke says an angel from heaven strength- 
ened Jesus in Gethsemane. Prayer is made 

258 



THE INTELLECTUALITY OF JESUS 

not to the angels bnt to God. The angels are 
the reapers in the final harvest, they separate 
the wheat from the tares, they gather the elect, 
and gather out all that offend. Angels carried 
the soul of Lazarus to Abraham's bosom. 
Though Jesus thought of God being sur- 
rounded by a company of angels, perhaps as 
a king by his court, he did not think of God 
being so remote from earth as to require 
mediating angels. It is in keeping with these 
views that the evangelists introduce angels in 
the gospel story in connection with the an- 
nunciation, Nativity, flight into Egypt, return, 
and the resurrection, as well as the tempta- 
tions in the wilderness and Gethsemane. There 
can be no reasonable doubt that Jesus sin- 
cerely believed in the objective reality of 
angels as one part of his view of the world. 

(3) Man. Concerning man, Jesus thought views 
of him as soul and body. The body is more ^ ceriling 
than raiment, the life is more than the food, 
and the soul is more than the body. Each soul 
is worth more than a sheep, many sparrows, 
and even the whole world. It lives after death 
in the company of God and his angels or the 
devil and his angels, according to its right- 
eousness or iniquity. There is a judgment to 
come. Man has choice — he may strive to enter 
in at the strait gate, he may do the will of 

259 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 

God, he may buy the pearl of great price, 
he may turn and become as a little child, he 
may deny himself, take up his cross daily, and 
follow. On the one hand the Father draws, 
on the other hand the devil tempts. Jeru- 
salem would not. 

(4) Satan. The views of Jesus concerning 
the devil and his angels correspond by contrast 
to his views concerning the Father and his 
angels. In these views also Jesus is reflecting 
the accepted notions of his day. Four terms 
are used practically synonymously with each 
other, Satan or adversary ; devil or slanderer ; 
Beelzebul, god of flies or dung; and prince of 
demons. Satan appears in the narrative of the 
temptation, whether we say Jesus saw him 
objectively or was only inwardly aware of his 
presence. Jesus addressed Peter as "Satan" 
when Peter remonstrated with him for includ- 
ing suffering in his plan. Jesus told Peter 
Satan had desired to sift him as wheat, in 
which role Satan appears as in the case of Job, 
but that Jesus had prayed for him that his 
faith fail not. The sifting took place at the 
time of the three denials. Luke and John say 
Satan prompted Judas to betray Jesus. Satan 
had bound the woman with an infirmity for 
eighteen years. Satan catches away the good 
seed, and is the enemy of man that sows tares 

260 



THE INTELLECTUALITY OF JESUS 

in his heart. The Jews were of their father, 
the devil, a liar and a murderer from the be- 
ginning, who stands not in the truth. He is 
"the prince of this world," "the power of dark- 
ness," who, however, finds nothing of his own 
in Jesus. On the contrary, Jesus is stronger 
than the strong Beelzebul, whose house is not 
divided against itself, but whom Jesus binds, 
and whose goods he despoils. The prince of 
this world is judged and condemned by the 
lifting up of the Son of man. Jesus says he 
beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. 
This statement coupled with the one about the 
devil standing not in the truth [supply, "as 
once he stood"], has led some to think Jesus 
held that Satan was a fallen angel. There is 
a punishment prepared for the devil and his 
angels. The fact that Satan is finally to be 
overcome indicates that the moral dualism 
held by Jesus is finally relieved. 

(5) Demons. The demons are the subjects 
of the power of darkness, the prince of this 
world. They are evil spirits. They enter and 
leave man at will. They may be compelled to 
leave before they will, as by the sons of the 
Pharisees, by one using the name of Jesus, 
though not his followers, and by Jesus through 
the finger or spirit of God, by means of the 
spoken word, sometimes by prayer. A man 

261 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 

or child need not through prior sin invite such 
possession. They speak through their medium ; 
they can possess animals; they anticipated a 
time of torment ahead; some of them feared 
Jesus as their tormentor ahead of time; they 
group themselves, sometimes in seven, some- 
times as a legion; they can raise a storm on 
the lake by the wind, and so receive the rebuke 
of Jesus (compare "the wind bloweth where 
it listeth," etc.), and some are more evil than 
others. They cause all manner of bodily and 
mental distress and disease to their unfortu- 
nate victims. They had means of communica- 
tion between themselves and some are more 
evil than others. Jesus described one who 
when cast out found seven others more evil 
than himself. They haunt the less frequented 
spots and take their victims there — deserts, 
waterless places, tombs, and mountains. If 
cast into "the abyss," they could not return 
(Luke 8. 31). Even John and Jesus were 
supposed at times to have a demon of insanity 
— John because he came neither eating nor 
drinking, and Jesus because he said the Jews 
sought to kill him. 
Parallels Instructive parallels with these conceptions 

are found in the jinn of the Arabians; 1 also 

1 Compare Robertson Smith, The Religion of the 
Semites. 

262 



THE INTELLECTUALITY OF JESUS 

in the phenomena of multiple personality, 
aphasia, stuttering, epilepsy, nervousness, 
mental derangements known to modern psy- 
chology; also in the observations of some mis- 
sionaries in China and elsewhere. 

Did Jesus believe in the real objective exist- Physical Evils 
ence of these demons? Though we cannot be D emons 
positive, the evidence is that he did. He saw 
in dumbness, deafness, stammering, blind- 
ness, ferocity, unusual strength, fallings into 
fire and water, convulsions, ravings, grinding 
the teeth, pining away, foaming at the mouth, 
and certain combinations of these, evidences 
of the presence of demoniacal agency ; in some 
cases though not in all, the sin of the victim 
was involved, in all cases these symptoms were 
the signs of the works of the devil he had come 
to destroy, and he destroyed them, not, as the 
Jews said, with unpardonable sin, through be- 
ing in league with Beelzebul, but by the power 
of God working through his sympathy for 
human suffering and the faith of the patient 
or his representative. It is easy to trace the 
use of suggestion in the method used by Jesus 
in effecting the cures, as in putting his fingers 
in the ears, anointing the eyes with clay, and 
asking for an expression of belief. Undoubt- 
edly many of the patients were victims of 
nervous disorders and religious insanity. In 

263 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 

the presence of Jesus physical, mental, and 
spiritual normality was restored, but he was 
unwilling that any one of these cures should 
be capitalized to increase his following. On 
the contrary, he strictly charged that the 
healed person should tell no man, and he 
taught that the casting out of demons in his 
name was not the highest source of joy to his 
disciples and was no sure token of admission 
to the heavenly kingdom. 
Heaven and The abode of the Father and the angels is 

heaven; of the devil and his angels is hell, a 
place of torment, whither the soul of Dives 
went, symbolized now by the flaming fire, now 
by the outer darkness, now by the undying 
worm. Between these two abodes a great gulf 
was fixed. The origin of the imagery of the 
outer darkness is the unlighted street flanked 
by the windowless stone walls of the houses 
into which the guest without the wedding gar- 
ment is cast; of the Gehenna of fire is the 
vale of Hinnom where decaying and worm- 
infested bodies were cast for incineration. A 
final Judgment would separate the sheep from 
the goats. This means to say, philosophically 
speaking, that the universe of Jesus is a moral 
order; that the ends of righteousness are met 
ultimately, though not in this life; that jus- 
tice triumphs; that not even mercy defeats 

264 



THE INTELLECTUALITY OF JESUS 

the ends of justice but prevents unjust con- 
demnation and saves all who will be saved. 
Jesus did not answer the question : "Are there 
few that be saved ?" but urged strenuous effort 
to enter the strait gate. 

2. The Natural Order. So the world of 
Jesus is primarily one of persons, divine, 
human, and fiendish, in a moral order. But 
though this world is the most real, it is not 
the only type of existence. In addition, there 
are animals, plants, sun, rain, summer and 
harvest — objects of common-sense experience, 
all regular in their habits, and dependable fea- 
tures of common life. In the world of Jesus, 
as in that of every man, salt has its savor; a 
house built on the sand falls ; trees are known 
by their fruits ; grapes do not grow on thorns 
nor figs on thistles ; corrupt trees do not bring 
forth good fruit; the leopard cannot change 
his spots nor the African his skin; there are 
wayside, thorny, thin, and good soil ; the fruit- 
ful earth; the sheep following the shepherd; 
the vine and the branches; the march of the 
seasons ; hearing only if there are ears to hear ; 
giving to him that hath, and other like things. 
Jesus did not use the term "natural law," but 
he recognized the facts supporting such a 
conception. Had he been a technical scientist 
or philosopher he would have described these 

265 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 

common experiences as "the natural order' ' 
and their regularity and dependability as "the 
reign of law." Had he spoken the philosophi- 
cal lingua, he might have said there are no 
secondary causes, like gravitation, heat, elec- 
tricity, etc., there is but one cause, a primary 
cause, the Father, whose beneficent action is 
immediate upon the course of nature, "work- 
ing hitherto." The presence of such a uni- 
versal Providence leaves no occasion for 
special providence. It is hardly necessary to 
say that the intelligence of Jesus was unso- 
phisticated philosophically, and that conse- 
quently, as regards the physical order, he was 
no solipsist, denying any existence beyond his 
own ego, and no subjective idealist, denying 
the reality of the external physical world. 

3. Sense and Spirit. Though real, the world 
of sense is not so real as that of spirit. It is 
a kind of parable of the spirit world. Its 
familiar occurrences suggest the nature of 
spiritual facts and relationships. "He who 
sows the good seed is the Son of man ; the field 
is the world; the good seed means the sons 
of the Realm; the weeds are the sons of the 
evil one; the enemy who sowed them is the 
devil ; the harvest is the end of the world, and 
the reapers are angels." How truly wonder- 
ful all this is, especially when we recall that 

266 



THE INTELLECTUALITY OF JESUS 

the method of teaching by parable was rather 
suddenly adopted by Jesus in the face of grow- 
ing opposition as a way of continuing to teach 
with more safety and as a penalty upon hear- 
ers with unwilling hearts. With a kind of 
poetic idealism he recognizes that facts exist 
in a system of meaningful spiritual relation- 
ships, as the half-shekel temple tax suggests 
the freedom of the sons, that nature is the 
spirit's mirror, "a whispering gallery of spirit- 
ual truths." 

4. Time. In the world of Jesus there is 
time, a river of the ages, flowing on and on, 
till it reaches the great goal of the consumma- 
tion of the ages. There is no thought that all 
this succession may be subjective in the mind 
of man, nor yet that God himself is finite, sub- 
ject to growth and age in time. The temporal 
order is real, but it is not all. 

5. Space. There is space, unlimited, with 
the directions of "east and west," and the four 
winds of heaven. It is no contracted, limited, 
time-and-space world in which the mind of 
Jesus moves. 

6. Progress. There is progress in the world 
toward the great goal of the coming kingdom 
of God, a regeneration (Matt. 19. 28), when 
the will of the Father shall be done on earth 
as it is done in heaven. That the kingdom 

267 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 

is to come, shows there is progress in human 
life on the earth. Prayer is one method of 
bringing in the kingdom. There is continuity 
in development, the new fulfilling the old, as 
he fulfilled the law and the prophets, and as 
the scribe brings forth things both new and 
old. Yet the new wine requires new bottles 
and a new patch is used on new cloth. The 
method of progress is by growth, as the leaven 
works in meal, as the mustard seed becomes 
the largest tree, as the fig tree puts forth its 
leaves, as the grain grows — first the blade, 
then the ear, then the full corn in the ear. 
Jesus never states a theory of progress in 
abstract terms. Should we formulate one con- 
sonant with his thought, it would probably 
be : Progress is the will of God working itself 
out in time through the wills of men, or, in 
his words, the hidden becoming manifested. 

7. Truth. The great conception of truth 
was to Jesus primarily moral and religious, 
not scientific and abstract. It was not the 
quality of correctness inhering in a proposi- 
tion, but it was the right life. Truth is some- 
thing to be done, not formulated. Doing the 
truth brings one to the light. Willing to do 
the will of the Father brings one to a knowl- 
edge of the doctrine. The kingdom of Jesus 
is not of this world but of the truth, to which 

268 



THE INTELLECTUALITY OF JESUS 

he bears witness. "I am the truth," he says, 
meaning that he himself is the universal man 
in harmony with the will of God, as all men 
should be. Thus truth is right personal rela- 
tionship. Jesus has no thought of knowing 
truth for its own sake, of truth as the quality 
of harmony between thought and fact. His 
conception that truth is concrete, the right 
thing to be and to do, is "pragmatic" in char- 
acter. Jesus did not criticize the scientific 
truth of his day; he did not advance it; he 
dealt with objects of spiritual intuition; he 
explained by reference to the purposes of God, 
as in the case of the man born blind ; he criti- 
cized the Scriptures not textually, nor for 
their date and authorship, but spiritually. He 
would himself be accepted not because he was 
the Son of David, nor came into the world in 
an unknown way (John 7. 27), nor worked 
cures, nor by any external sign, but by the 
inner witness of the truth, hearing his voice 
as sheep hear their shepherd's voice, eating 
his flesh, drinking his blood, walking in his 
light, coming and seeing, following where he 
leads. His was not the truth of thought pri- 
marily, but the truth of life. To him wisdom 
is justified by her works, her children. 

8. Life. Life is serious, involving moral seriousness 
issues, even the life and death of the soul. fLife 

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JESUS— OUR STANDARD 

But one thing is needful — there is but one 
pearl of great price, but one hid treasure. This 
needful thing is right relationship to the 
Father, membership in the Kingdom, which 
children have, which Mary had. The King- 
dom had already partially come, was gradu- 
ally coming more and more, and would finally 
come suddenly within his generation. Those 
cast out would be the unfaithful, the unwatch- 
ful, the unprofitable, the unfruitful, the apos- 
tate disciple, disobedient hearers, those who 
deny or are ashamed of him — all "workers of 
iniquity." In the parables of the drag-net 
and the tares he taught the final separation 
of the good and the wicked. 

9. His Sense of His Mission. His own 
unique work he conceived as revealing the 
Father. "No one knows the Son except the 
Father — nor does anyone know the Father ex- 
cept the Son, and he to whom the Son chooses 
to reveal him." He came that men might have 
life and have it more abundantly. He came 
to call sinners to repentance. He came to bear 
witness to the truth. He came to give his life 
a ransom for many. He came not to be minis- 
tered unto but to minister. Jesus conceived 
the philosophy of his own life primarily in 
terms of mission. 
a Practical Such is the bare intellectual framework of 

Philosophy 

270 



THE INTELLECTUALITY OF JESUS 

the philosophy of life which Jesus held. It 
is essentially practical in character, deter- 
mined by the moral and religious, not the 
abstractly intellectual, interests. As such it 
should not be compared with the theoretical 
constructions of the universe, intentionally 
such, made by Plato and Aristotle, though it 
might properly be compared with the views 
of Socrates, the intellectual saviour of the 
Greeks. Neither should it be compared with 
the modern scientific generalizations about the 
world based on systematic observation of vast 
ranges of fact, whose viewpoint is foreign to 
that of Jesus. It is a philosophy not in ad- 
vance of its time as regards angels and demons, 
though notably so in its central position of 
God as Father. And it is a philosophy whose 
moral and spiritual insights are based on a 
unique consciousness of union with God — a 
consciousness that has perpetually challenged 
philosophies to explain, from the time of the 
prologue of the Gospel of John to Hall's 
Jesus, The Christ, In the Light of Psychology. 

There are no standard, or final, philoso- its Truth 
phies. From the nature of the case, no philoso- 
phy can finally prove its position. We do not 
ask Jesus to be our standard in speculative, 
but in practical, philosophy, though specula- 
tive philosophy in some of its forms has been 

271 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 



Its Intellectual 
Quality 



No Conceit of 
Knowledge 



His 

Appreciation of 
Truth in His 
Teaching 



glad to learn from the spiritual intuitions of 
Jesus. His practical philosophy was put 
forth to be lived. The only fair way to judge 
such a philosophy is to try it and see. The 
Christian world is agreed that when tried the 
gospel of love works, it solves the problem of 
living completely, and thus has practical 
truth. 

The philosophy of Jesus reveals an intellect 
dominantly practical, concrete, and intuitive 
in character, and sure of its ground. The 
question mark of doubt written at the end of 
every system of speculative philosophy does 
not appear here. Its alpha at the age of 
twelve is the "Father's house'' and its omega 
at the age of thirty-three is the "Father's 
hands." 

It should be further said that the philoso- 
phy of Jesus contains no attack on science and 
pure philosophy, and no appreciation for the 
willful ignoramus or the obscurantist. Jesus 
thanks the Father that these things are hid 
from the wise and prudent — those with the 
conceit of spiritual knowledge, like the Phari- 
sees — and revealed to babes — those with will- 
ing and obedient hearts, like his disciples. 

The life of Jesus was the truth of religion 
embodied. His teaching reveals appreciative 
recognition of intellectuality, knowledge, and 

272 



THE INTELLECTUALITY OF JESUS 

truth. To those who abide in him he promises 
the knowledge of the truth, "and the truth 
shall make you free." He rejected the views 
of the expounders of the Law because they 
had taken away the key of knowledge (Luke 
11. 51). Unto his disciples he said it was 
given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom, 
which were concealed by parable from others. 
He taught that eternal life consisted in know- 
ing the only true God and the one he sent, 
even Jesus Christ. No higher value could be 
placed upon practical knowledge than this. 

VII. Summary 

Thus we have reviewed the intellectuality 
of Jesus. In quality and spiritual content, is 
it not a standard, a realized ideal? In in- 
formational content, the intellectuality of 
Jesus reflects the age in which he lived. It 
remains for us to consider only the final ideal 
of complete living, and most significant word, 
spirituality. 



273 



CHAPTER VI 

THE SPIRITUALITY OF JESUS 

"Fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and 
terrible as an army with banners." 

— Song of Songs 6. 10, 



275 



CHAPTER VI 
THE SPIRITUALITY OF JESUS 

I. Nature of Spirituality 

Spirituality is man's sense of divine rela- 
tionship. It is the fifth ideal, the inclusive 
ideal, of complete living. It is not a new ele- 
ment in human nature; it is the old elements 
of human nature in a new relationship. It 
does not stand on a par with the physical, 
moral, emotional, and intellectual ; it includes 
each and all of these in relationship to God. 
Spirituality is sensing all life in its true per- 
spective, seeing the world as an expression of 
the life of God, realizing one's own unity at 
every point with the whole. 

From this standpoint it is a mistake to sup- Mistakes 
pose one can be right with God and wrong * b . out ,._ 

x ° ° Spirituality 

with his fellow, pious and at the same time 
immoral, spiritual and at the same time abuse 
the welfare of the body, religious and yet 
irreverent, holy and yet unclean, devout and 
yet intellectually blind. Spirituality is a 
plant whose roots are in the clay of common 
life, whose flower and fruit are in the heavenly 

277 



Treatment 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 

air. One must be spiritual with his body, his 
will, his emotions, his intellect, or not so at 
all. 
Method of So in treating the spirituality of Jesus, we 

do not have to bring out something new and 
distinct in his living and teaching; we have 
only to show how he sensed his life at the four 
main points and elsewhere as related to God. 
Did he treat his physical life with reverence, 
his volitional life as related to God's will, his 
emotional life as related to God's perfection, 
and his intellectual life as related to God's 
truth? Did the sense of God's presence abide 
with him? In answering these questions we 
have only to bring to the foreground matters 
already suggested. 

II. How Jesus Spiritualized His Body and 
the Physical Order 

Jesus regarded his own body as a sanctuary, 
and so spoke of it (John 2. 19) as a temple 
where the spirit dwells. He taught that God, 
who so clothed the grass of the field, would 
clothe the body, that he could destroy both 
soul and body, that the life is sustained by 
spiritual food ( John 4. 32-34 ) , and that physi- 
cal kinship either to his mother or to David 
was subordinate to spiritual kinship to God. 

Concerning the physical order of which the 

278 



THE SPIRITUALITY OF JESUS 

body is a part, Jesus taught that God is the 
Lord of heaven and earth, that the heavens 
were his throne upon which he sat, that the 
earth was his footstool, that he clothed the 
grass, fed the ravens, remembered the sparrow 
in its fall, made his sun rise on the evil and 
the good, sent his rain on the just and the 
unjust, and numbered the hairs of the head. 
The whole system of things is "the Father's 
house," in which there are many mansions, 
and in which also there is plenty and to spare 
for all prodigal sons. In the beginning God 
created the creation. Male and female were 
so created by God from the beginning, and 
what God hath joined together, man should 
not put asunder. In the calamities of life 
Jesus did not see a punishment for sin, but 
a call to those spared to repent and bear fruit. 
The Galilaeans murdered by Pilate, the eight- 
een victims of the fall of Siloam's tower, were 
not sinners above others, "but except ye repent, 
ye shall all likewise perish." The man was 
born blind, not through sin of self or parents, 
but that the works of God should be made 
manifest in him. The sickness of Lazarus was 
for the glory of God and of his Son. 

The parables, his matchless stories concern- The Parables 
ing the kingdom of God, spiritualize the life Nature* 1 " 6 
of man and nature. Common experiences 

279 



Final Causes 



Vocational 



Personal 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 

yield to his poetic and spiritual imagination 
analogies of heavenly truth. The mysteries of 
the Kingdom, not clear to outsiders, he de- 
clares to his disciples. The seed he sows is the 
word of God. 

Manifestly, here are views of the body, the 
natural order, its calamities and customary 
happenings, not mechanical but spiritual in 
character. The causes of things in which 
Jesus was interested were final rather than 
efficient; that is, he looked to consequents 
rather than antecedents. With eyes of rever- 
ence he beheld natural objects and processes 
as the doings of God. 

III. How Jesus Spiritualized the Three 
Kinds of Goodness 

Goodness too, like the body, Jesus saw in its 
relationship to God. His parables spiritualize 
vocational goodness, or skill, expressing a 
sense of heavenly meaning in the lives of serv- 
ants, laborers, sowers, stewards, merchant- 
men, tailors, vine-dressers, shepherds, fisher- 
men, plowmen, women sweeping and leaven- 
ing dough, marriage customs, and all the 
varied relations of the life of his day. 

The personal goodness of Jesus he likewise 
associated with God. "Why call me 'good'? 
No one is good, no one but God." He would 

280 



THE SPIRITUALITY OF JESUS 

not have the term "good" used as a formality 
in polite intercourse, but directed the eager 
young inquirer's thought to God as the only 
one absolutely good, whose goodness all good 
lives share. Though challenging his critics to 
convict him of sin, Jesus directed their 
thoughts not to himself but to the Father. "I 
do always those things that please him." 

Social goodness too Jesus viewed in relation social 
to God. The social command to love one's 
neighbor as oneself he made second to the 
spiritual command to love God with all one's 
being, and inseparably connected the two. The 
kingdom of heaven is a social conception, but 
its nature is doing the will of the Father on 
earth as it is done jn heaven. Our good works 
lead men to glorify not ourselves but our 
Father in heaven. He himself taught as he 
had been taught by the Father and wrought 
as the Father wrought through him. So good- 
ness in all its forms did not stand alone to 
Jesus without any connection with God. 

IV. How Jesus Spiritualized Beauty 

The ideal of beauty, typical of the emotional 
life, Jesus also sensed, but not out of relation- 
ship to God. "Consider the lilies of the field, 
how they grow; they toil not, neither do they 
spin ; and yet I say unto you, that even Solo- 

281 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 

mon in all his glory was not arrayed like one 
of these." Here is clearly an expression of 
aesthetic emotion, delighting in the work of 
nature rather than man. Not content to leave 
the matter so, however, Jesus continues: 
"Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the 
field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast 
into the oven, shall he not much more clothe 
you, O ye of little faith?" This addition is 
the spiritualization of beauty. "The flower 
in the crannied wall" awakens in Tennyson 
an aspiration for the knowledge of God and 
man; the lilies of the field awaken in Jesus a 
realizing sense of God's presence and beauti- 
fying power. The ideal of beauty is perfection 
which, in the mind of Jesus, is ultimately 
the perfection of God. "You must be perfect, 
as your heavenly Father is perfect." 

V. How Jesus Spiritualized Truth 

Truth, the ideal of the intellect, no less than 
the body, and goodness, and beauty, Jesus 
viewed in relationship to God. Truth to Jesus 
was not abstract but personal. "Thy word is 
truth." "I am the truth." "Sanctify them 
through thy truth." He told Pilate that he 
came to bear witness of the truth, and that 
every one that was of the truth heard his 
voice. It was the Father, not flesh and blood, 

282 



THE SPIRITUALITY OF JESUS 

who revealed to Peter the truth of his great 
confession that Jesus was the Christ, the Son 
of the living God, but the keeper of the keys 
was prompted by Satan to rebuke Jesus for 
choosing the way of suffering and "minded not 
the things of God." "This is eternal life, that 
they know thee, the only real God, and him 
whom thou hast sent." Here the highest good 
is distinctly stated in intellectual terms that 
are also spiritual. Jesus does not lecture 
about the truth he has investigated but is not, 
rather his teaching reveals the truth he is, 
that is, a Person revealing the Father's per- 
sonality. 

VI. Spirituality of Jesus Vital and Inclu- 
sive 

Thus, all told, spirituality lives in Jesus as 
his sense of relationship to God in body, good- 
ness, beauty, and truth. He not so much 
teaches spirituality as he is it, revealing and 
expressing it. The whole world to him is one 
spiritual order with indeed a related material 
side. He did not speak of the universe, but of 
"my Father's house," meaning not only the 
temple, but also perhaps at times the whole 
world, in which were "many mansions," and 
plenty and to spare for all prodigal sons. 

Thus, the fifth standard of spirituality em- spirituality 

283 Inclusive 



JESUS— OUK STANDARD 

braces the other four standards of the physi- 
cal, volitional, aesthetic, and intellectual. This 
standard of spirituality, the truly unique 
thing in the consciousness of Christ, and the 
most significant thing for the welfare of the 
world, may properly engage our study fur- 
ther. Let us follow it consecutively through 
the gospel story. 

VII. His Life Spiritual 

Let us repeat that by the spirituality of 
Jesus we mean his sense of relationship of 
nature and man to God. We have seen how 
he spiritualized the four ideals of the physi- 
cal, the volitional, the emotional, and the in- 
tellectual. In now illustrating further his 
spirituality, let us follow in general the course 
of his own development, though somewhat 
disconnectedly, as it appears in the gospel 
narratives. 

1. The Temple Incidents. Already at twelve 
the temple was to Jesus "my Father's house" ; 
on cleansing it, whether once or twice, it is 
still "my Father's house"; again it was "the 
house of God" that David entered when he 
ate the shewbread. We have also seen that 
Jesus perhaps used "my Father's house" for 
the world at large other than the temple. 

2. The Baptism. At his baptism, what 

284 



THE SPIKITUALITY OF JESUS 

Jesus saw was to him the Spirit of God de- 
scending as a dove, the emblem of gentleness, 
and what he heard was the voice of God, 
affirming his sonship. 

3. The Temptation. It was the Spirit that 
drove him into the wilderness of temptation, 
the Spirit of gentleness which could not be 
reconciled with the Messianic figure of vio- 
lence preached by John. In the wilderness 
he met temptation at each point with the 
thought of God: Man lives by the words of 
God; man must not tempt God; man must 
worship God and serve only him. 

To Nathanael, recalling the great experience To Nathanaei 
in the life of Jacob, Jesus promises that he 
shall see the angels of God ascending and de- 
scending upon the Son of man. 

4. The Kingdom. Second only to the reve- 
lation of the Fatherhood of God, the Kingdom 
of God, the doing of the Father's will on earth 
as it is in heaven, engrossed the interest of 
Jesus. His ministry begins with the nearness 
of the Kingdom, continues with the Kingdom 
being among and within men, and ends with 
its coming with power. It is his Father's 
Kingdom, and his Kingdom, and it is not of 
this world. 

5. The Teaching on the Hill. In the great 
Sermon, the pure in heart are promised the 

285 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 

vision of God, the peace-makers (peace is 
something that has to be made) are called the 
children of God, and the good works of disci- 
ples lead men to glorify the Father. Twice 
Jesus refers to the heavens as the throne of 
God, once to God sitting on this throne, once 
to the earth as his footstool. The sun is his 
and he sends the rain. By loving enemies and 
being kind and merciful to the unthankful 
and evil, men are sons of the heavenly Father, 
and perfect as the Most High is perfect. The 
secret service, the secret prayer, are seen by 
the Father and openly recompensed. Our 
needs are known by him before they are ex- 
pressed. To him we are to look in prayer for 
the daily bread, forgiveness of sin, and de- 
liverance from evil. But forgiveness from God 
is conditioned by man's forgiveness for man. 
The service of mammon is irreconcilable with 
the service of God. The food of the birds and 
the clothes of the grass come from him, who 
gives good things to them that ask, and even 
numbers the hairs of the head. 

6. The Miracles. Some thirty-five miracles 
are recorded of Jesus. No one of them was 
ever done in response to demand for a sign or 
as display or as a punishment. They are a 
revelation of compassion, a part of the reveal- 
ing of the Father, not an argumentative prop 

286 



THE SPIRITUALITY OP JESUS 

for it. Many of these were the casting out 
of demons, which, said Jesus, he did through 
the finger and the Spirit of God. The charge 
that he was in league with Beelzebul he de- 
nounced as eternal sin against the Holy Spirit. 
Having healed the Gadarene demoniac of his 
"Legion," he directed his thought to God as 
the real agent, moved by compassion : "Return 
to thine own house, and show how great things 
God hath done unto thee." God is the Healer. 
7. Spiritual Background of Ethical Rela- 
tions. The proper object of man's fear is not 
man, who can destroy only the body, but God, 
who can destroy both body and soul in hell. 
The sparrows are sold in market, two for a 
farthing, yet not one falls without the Father. 
Man's confession or denial of Jesus before 
man leads to Jesus' confession or denial of 
man before the Father and the holy angels. 
In the presence of synagogues, rulers, and 
authorities, the disciples were not to be anx- 
ious how or what they should answer, for 
the Holy Spirit would teach them in that very 
hour what they ought to say. One is first to 
be reconciled with his brother before offering 
his gift at the altar. One cannot receive for- 
giveness from God until he has forgiven his 
brother. All the ethics of Jesus have this 
kind of spiritual background. Even the ties 

287 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 

of blood he sublimated in spiritual kinship. 
"They that hear the word of God and do it" 
are his brother, sister, and mother, and are 
more blessed than the womb that bore him and 
the breasts that gave him suek. It was God 
who required of the rich fool his soul, and like 
the rich fool are all those not rich toward God. 
Jesus reproved the Pharisees for tithing mint 
and rue and every herb, and passing over jus- 
tice and the love of God. 
Human The repenting of one sinner causes joy in 

HeavenTjoy tne presence of the angels of God. As a man 
seeks the one sheep lost from his hundred, as 
a woman seeks one piece of money lost from 
ten, as a father waits and watches for the one 
son lost from two, so does God seek and wel- 
come the repentant sinner. The thanksgiv- 
ing of the poor healed Samaritan leper, a 
stranger, was a form of giving glory to God. 

8. The Scriptures the Revealing Word of 
God. The law of Moses that parents should 
be honored he regarded as the "commandment 
of God." The Jews by their tradition con- 
cerning Corban had made void "the word of 
God." But every plant not planted by his 
heavenly Father should be rooted up. In the 
Scriptures, which he said could not be broken, 
he saw the testimony of himself. It was "the 
wisdom of God" which had said, "I will send 

288 



THE SPIRITUALITY OF JESUS 

unto them apostles and prophets." He quoted 
the prophets that all men should be taught of 
God. 

9. Prayer Answered. Prayer, to Jesus, was 
no subjective exercise, it was asking and re- 
ceiving, it was adoring the Father, it was con- 
fession and absolution, it was thanksgiving, 
it was the yielding, though in struggle, of the 
human to the Father's will, the only condition 
of receiving spiritual blessing. The elect who 
cry to God day and night will be avenged, 
though he is long suffering over them. A trait 
of character in the unrighteous judge was that 
he did not fear God. The penitent publican 
rather than the self-righteous Pharisee is 
justified. Jesus draws a distinction between 
material blessings, like sunshine and rain, 
sent by God upon all men alike, and spiritual 
blessings, the good gift of the Spirit, given 
those who ask. 

10. Children Emblems of the Divine. Chil- 
dren also Jesus regarded from the divine 
standpoint. One is to beware of despising one 
of them, because their angels always behold 
the Father's face in heaven, and it is not his 
will that one of them should perish. Even the 
Kingdom is constituted of members who have 
become as little children. 

11. The Second Coming of Jesus. The fail- 

289 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 

ure of the Jews to accept Jesus necessitated 
his death, resurrection, and second coming, 
which was to be with the glory of the Father, 
when the Kingdom of God should come with 
power. With poetic imagination, using the 
figures of apocalyptic splendor, Jesus de- 
scribes his second coming, when the material 
order is supplanted by the spiritual. 

12. "The Father" the Spiritual Center. The 
spiritual center of the thinking of Jesus is 
"the Father." This term occurs forty-five 
times in Matthew, five in Mark, seventeen in 
Luke, and ninety times in John. The term is 
sometimes unqualified, sometimes qualified, as 
by "my," "your," "heavenly," "holy," and 
"righteous." Once, when speaking of not 
swearing by Jerusalem, Jesus refers to God 
as "the Great King," once as "the Lord of 
the harvest," once as "the Lord of heaven and 
earth," and once as "the Most High." 
God is spirit Jesus told the woman of Samaria that God 
is spirit, that the object of worship is the 
Father, who seeks worshipers in spirit and in 
truth. 
The unity in As at the temptation he lived by the word 
Fathwand °f Ood, so during his ministry his meat was 
Son to do his Father's will and to finish his work. 

His own work every day and the Sabbath like- 
wise was a phase of the unceasing activity 

290 



THE SPIRITUALITY OF JESUS 

and work hitherto of his Father. He could 
do only what he saw him doing, quickening, 
and judging, and receiving honor, and having 
life in himself. His works were given him of 
God, and bore witness that the Father sent 
him. He came not in his own but in the 
Father's name. 

Jesus had the sense that the Father, even His own work 
God, had sealed him and his work. The work of e d eale(i 
of God was to believe on him whom he had 
sent. He was the true bread given by the 
Father. No man could come unto him, except 
the Father draw him, and all that the Father 
gave him should come. It was the will of his 
Father that every one believing on him should 
have eternal life, "eternal life" being John's 
synonym for membership in the Kingdom. He 
alone had seen the Father, he alone knew the 
Father, and so he alone was in a position to 
reveal him to others. He himself lived be- 
cause the living Father had sent him. 

Jesus, though being rejected, had the sense **»« Sen se of 
that he was not alone, but that the Father Presence 
who sent him was with him, and bore witness 
of him, and had taught him what things to 
speak. By willing to do his will anyone could 
know whether his teaching were of God. The 
things he did were pleasing to the One that 
sent him, he spoke the things he had seen with 

291 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 



His Unity with 
the Father 



The Father 
Above All 



his Father, he came forth from God, he hon- 
ored his Father, and his Father, whom he 
knew, glorified him. This consciousness of 
God which Jesus had is his most remarkable 
quality. 

. Himself Jesus felt to be the Son of God, 
known by the Father, and knowing the 
Father, and loved by the Father for laying 
down his life, which he would take again, hav- 
ing received this commandment from his 
Father. The works he did in his Father's 
name bore witness of him. No wolf can snatch 
his sheep out of the Father's hand. The 
Father is greater than all, and he and the 
Father are one (John 10. 29, 30). The Father 
had sanctified him and sent him into the 
world, and it was no blasphemy for him to call 
himself the Son of God, they of old being 
"gods" because the word of God came to them 
(John 10. 35). The works he did indicated 
that the Father was in him and he in the 
Father. At the tomb of Lazarus he thanked 
the Father. 

As it was only the Father who knew the day 
of his second coming, so it was only the Father 
who could give to sit on his right or left hand, 
who had prepared a heavenly kingdom for 
those whom he had blessed. The lesson he 
drew from the withering of the cursed barren 

292 



THE SPIRITUALITY OF JESUS 

lig tree was, "Have faith in God." To make 
the stone rejected of the builders the head 
of the corner was the marvelous doing of the 
Lord. 

The things of Caesar exist and have their The Power of 
place, but they are not the things of God. The 
trouble with the Sadducees was that they did 
not know the power of God, by which those 
accounted worthy to attain the resurrection 
from the dead are sons of God, neither marry- 
ing nor giving in marriage, but living unto 
him who is the God of the living. All things 
are possible with God, even the rich man may 
be saved. God knows the heart, and what is 
exalted among men is an abomination in his 
sight. God alone is absolutely good, even the 
goodness of Jesus being God's goodness ( Mark 
10. 18). And human life is a day, wherein 
the works of the Father must be done. 

In summarizing the commandments, Jesus God First 
put the love of God first and the love of man 
second. To him it was more important that 
the Messiah be the Son of God than the son 
of David, and that we call God Father than 
any man on the earth. He himself rode into 
Jerusalem in the name of the Lord. 

His servants would be honored by the Fellowship 
Father. His own sacrifice would glorify the Father 6 
name of the Father. To believe on him was 

293 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 

to believe on Him that sent him. He spoke 
what he had been commanded by the Father 
who sent him. The Kingdom he appointed 
his disciples had first been appointed him by 
his Father. He that received Jesus received 
Him that sent him. Even his suffering was 
a way of glorifying God and God's way of 
glorifying him in himself. 

13. Spiritual Comfort. The sorrowing dis- 
ciples were comforted by being told to believe 
in God ; that there were many mansions in his 
Father's house; that he was the way to the 
Father; that seeing him was seeing the 
Father; that the Father would give them an- 
other Comforter, and would love those who 
loved him, and kept his word ; that he and the 
Father would come and abide with those who 
loved him and kept his word; that the Holy 
Spirit would teach them all things; that he 
was going to the Father who was greater than 
he, and whom he loved; that the Father was 
the vine-dresser, glorified in the branches that 
bear much fruit; that the Father loved him; 
that he had kept the Father's commandments 
and abode in his love; that he had made 
known to the disciples all things he heard 
from his Father; that the Father would give 
what was asked in his name ; that hating him 
was hating the Father also; that the Com- 

294 



THE SPIRITUALITY OF JESUS 

forter, proceeding from the Father, sent by 
the Son, would bear witness of him ; that they 
would be persecuted because their persecutors 
had not known the Father, nor him ; that the 
world would be convicted of righteousness, be- 
cause he went to the Father and was seen no 
more ; that all things of the Father were his ; 
that the hour would come when not in para- 
bles but plainly would he tell them of the 
Father; that when they all would leave him 
alone he would not be alone, because the 
Father was with him. 

14. Spiritual Prayer. The spirituality of 
Jesus, the sense of the Father's nearness, 
righteousness, and holiness, reaches the acme 
of expression in his farewell prayer, in which 
Jesus is conscious that his hour has come; 
that the Father will glorify him ; that he had 
given him authority over all flesh ; that eternal 
life is knowing him, the only true God, and 
himself, sent of God ; that his accomplishment 
on earth had glorified the Father; that he 
had glory with the Father before the world 
was; that he had manifested the Father's 
name unto the disciples; that they too were 
the Father's; that the Father would keep 
them; that he had given them the Father's 
word ; that the Father's word was truth ; that 
all future believers through their word should 

295 



The Arrest 



Consciousness 
of Sonship and 
Exaltation 



The Sole Sense 

of 

Forsakenness 



JESUS— OUR STANDARD 

be one; that he had transmitted the glory 
given him to them ; that they might be with 
him and behold his glory. 

15. Spiritual Sorrow. In Gethsemane he 
cries to his Father, with whom all things are 
possible, that if he be willing, he would remove 
the cup from him; but affirms his willing 
obedience. "Thy will be done." 

At the arrest he was conscious that he could 
beseech his Father and receive more than 
twelve legions of angels, but he would drink 
the cup that the Father had given him, and 
fulfill the Scriptures. 

During the trial, in answer to the question 
of Caiaphas, "Art thou the Christ, the Son of 
the Blessed?" Jesus replied: "I am." Before 
the Council he said: "From henceforth shall 
the Son of man be seated at the right hand of 
the power of God." 

On the cross he intercedes for his crucifiers 
to his Father, "for they know not what they 
do." Some six hours later, in physical and 
spiritual anguish, Jesus for once and briefly 
lost the sense of the Father's sustaining pres- 
ence in the cry of forsakenness. Under such 
circumstances the breaking down of his spirit- 
ual sense but accentuates its habitual pres- 
ence. With the final flickerings of mortal 
consciousness, he is again sure of his work, 

zn 






THE SPIRITUALITY OF JESUS 

now finished, and of his Father, into whose 
hands he commends his spirit. 

16. The Risen Christ. The risen Christ, 
with different yet familiar consciousness and 
a spiritual body, is unwilling that Mary 
should cling to him, for he must ascend to the 
Father ; sends the disciples as the Father had 
sent him; sends forth the promise of the 
Father upon them; commissions them to bap- 
tize in the name of the Father and of the Son 
and of the Holy Spirit; and once again says 
that times and seasons the Father hath set 
within his own authority. 

VIII. Spirituality of Jesus the Standard 

Thus we have reviewed the spirituality of 
Jesus, his sense of everything in divine rela- 
tionship, as indicated in the continuous gospel 
narrative. There is no evidence that Jesus 
regarded any object or event as out of relation- 
ship to the Father, the consciousness of whose 
presence characterized all his life. Is there 
not here a record of unparalleled spirituality? 
Can it be matched in range, depth, or intensity 
elsewhere? Is it not a standard of all spirit- 
uality, unapproached, if not unapproachable? 
And have we not all received of his fullness? 

The following modern poem of wonderful «The Eternal 
imagery and in a difficult classical rhythm, by 

297 



Presence' 



JESUS—OUR STANDARD 

Clinton S collar d, breathes the spiritual sense 
of Jesus, though in a less personal form i 1 

"The 'Eternal Presence' 

"I have watched the glow on the morning sky-line 
When the kindling spring from out of the palm-isles 
Came, with lilt of lutes and with touch of timbrels, 
Winged as the swallow. 

"Summer I have seen o'er the fertile loam-lands 
Spread its gleaming gold and its burnished amber — 
Barley, wheat, and rye in the soft winds waving, 
Ripe for the reapers. 

"I have walked with autumn down through the orchards, 
Where lay heaped the fruit with its veins of crimson, 
Globes that vied with all of the hues of sunset, 
Harvests ambrosial. 

"Winter I have known, with its shroud of silence, 
Vestal, virginal, clad in its arctic ermine, 
When the midnight brightened the frosted sky with 
Torches auroral. 

"Just the shifting sands in the Year's great hour-glass, 
Turned by Time who works at the Master's bidding, 
Where we mark, if we look with eyes unclouded, 
The Eternal Presence!" 

jesus as It remains only to add a word concerning 

standard ^e practicability of Jesus as a standard of 

human life, an infinite, receding, and yet, we 
must think, a possible standard. He calls 
himself the "Son of man," borrowing the term 
from the book of Daniel, associated as it was 
with apocalyptic splendors, yet not lending 

* Quoted by permission of the author. 

298 



THE SPIRITUALITY OF JESUS 

itself to false associations of temporal rule 
clinging about the term "Messiah" in his day, 
and forever suggesting the fullness of his 
humanity. He also called himself "the Son 
of God," having nothing physiological or meta- 
physical in mind, but practical, a will doing 
the Father's will, exemplifying the kingdom 
of heaven on earth. He also called himself 
"the Christ," the Messiah, the Anointed of 
God to reveal his character as Father to men. 
Thus Jesus as Son of man, Son of God, and 
Messiah means that men can ("Son of man") 
and should ("Son of God") follow him ("Mes- 
siah") in establishing the family of God in 
the world. That is the challenge of his life, 
that is the meaning of Jesus as standard, that 
is the philosophy of his appearing — the process 
of growth of mankind Godward. 

Is not making Jesus the standard therefore The world's 
the hope of the welfare of the world? Bernard 
Shaw has recently dropped satire, irony, and 
irreverence long enough to say: "I am ready 
to admit that, after contemplating the world 
of human nature for nearly sixty years, I see 
no way out of the world's misery but the way 
which would have been found by Christ's will 
if he had undertaken the work of a modern, 
practical statesman." Mr. H. G. Wells, in 
his God the Invisible King, though rejecting 

299 






JESUS— OUR STANDARD 

formal Christianity and the leadership of 
Jesus, describes a God after the very pattern 
of the risen Christ, whom, in fact, he calls "the 
Christ God," and admits "there is a curious 
modernity about very many of Christ's re- 
corded sayings." 
The way of i n these davs of the world's darkness and 

Jesus *" 

desolation, everything else has failed as a plan 
of human action except the ideal, the way of 
Jesus. Is it not time this way was tried? It 
at least has succeeded in proportion as it has 
been trulv tried. Manv are readv to sav in 
advance of trial that it won't work: they are 
the real skeptics. Few will say after trial that 
it won't work ; they have faith. Jesus asked : 
"Nevertheless, when the Son of man cometh, 
shall he find faith on the earth?" That is, the 
willingness to trv the ideal wav. This is the 
fire Jesus came to scatter in the world, the 
torn world, which is now being salted with 
this fire. The way of Jesus, the incomparable 
Saviour of man, is our fivefold ideal standard. 
All other standards of man have something 
to be forgiven, as expressed in the poem of 
Sidney Lanier. ''The Crystal." as follows: 1 

All, all, I pardon, ere 'tis asked, 

Your more or less, your little mole that marks 

Your brother and your kinship seals to man. 






: By courtesy of The Independent and Charles Scribnere Sons. 

300 



THE SPIRITUALITY OF JESUS 

But Thee, but Thee, sovereign Seer of time, 

But Thee, O poets' Poet, Wisdom's Tongue, 

But Thee, O man's best Man, O love's best Love, 

O perfect life in perfect labor writ, 

O all men's Comrade, Servant, King, or Priest, 

What if or yet, what mole, what flaw, what lapse, 

What least defect or shadow of defect, 

What rumor tattled by an enemy, 

Of inference loose, what lack of grace 

Even in torture's grasp, or sleep's, or death's, 

O, what amiss may I forgive in Thee, 

Jesus, good Paragon, Thou Crystal Christ? 



301 



INDEX 



Abgar, 62 

Acquisitions, 229, 230 
Action and perception, 232, 

233 
Activity, 136 
Adolescence, 55, 56 
Agnosticism, 257 
Alertness, 207, 208 
Amazement, 171 
Ambrose, Saint, 61 
Ames, E. S., 20 
Angels, 257-259 
Anger, 174r-178 
Apocrypha, 52, 53, 99, 246 
Appearance of Jesus, 61-67 
Aramaic, 184 
Arrest, 296 

Astonishment, 171, 172 
Augustine, Saint, 61 
Aurelius, Marcus, 58 
Authority, 220-222 

Bankers, 91, 92^ 
Baptism, 284 
Beauty, 31, 32, 281, 282 
Body, 22, 67, 70-73, 76, 77, 

77-82, 83-84, 84, 85, 278 
Brahman, 42 
Buddhists, 42 
Business, 97, 98 

Calmness, 108 
Carlyle, 28, 29, 38 



Carpenter, 58, 60, 61 
Causes, 280 
Caution, 191-195 
Character, 105-122 
Childhood, 52-55 
Children, 200, 289 
Chrismon, 43 
Christ, the, 225, 226 
Christianity, 42 
Chrysostom, Saint, 61 
Clemens, J. S., 51 
Clement of Alexandria, 61 
Codex Bezae, 101 
College, 232 
Comfort, 294, 295 
Commanding Presence, 67, 68 
Companionship, 127 
Compassion, 160-167 
Complete Living, 40 
Concrete type of intellect, 211 
Confucius, 42, 128 
Conscience, clear, 121 
Consciousness, source of, 242, 

243 
Contrasts, in character, 111 

with scribal teaching, 248, 

249 
Courage, 107 
Crane, Dr. Frank, 37-39 
Creative intellect, 211, 212 
Critics, 115-118, 214-216 
Current Events, 209 

questions, 216 



303 



INDEX 



Day's Program, 44 
Defects lacking, 112 
Deism, 257 
Demons, 261-265 
Dependence, 184-187 
Development, 233, 234 
Dignity, 110 

Disappointment, 178-180 
Divorce, 218-220 
Docetic views, 75, 76 
Drummond, H., 32 

Emotions, Chapter IV. 
Endurance, 72, 73, 110 
Ethical relations, 287, 288 
Evils, 263, 264 
Eye, 63-65 

Faith, 185 
Faithfulness, 108 
Farmer, George, 56 
Father, the, 251-257, 290- 

294 
Fatigue, 69, 70 
Fear, 191-195 
Fechner, 22 
Feeling, 24 
Fellowship, 293, 294 
Figures of speech, 93, 94 
First sermon, 59, 143, 144 
Fishermen, 90 
Forsaken, 296 
Four significant Gospel facts, 

119, 120 
Four-square living, 33, 34 
Friends, 127 
Friendship, 127, 134 
Functions of the soul, 24-26 



Future Events, 239, 240 

Gethsemane, 163 

God, 34-39, 241, 254-257, 

290, 293 
Goodness, Chapter III, 30, 

31, 102-122, 280-281 
Gospel, joyous, 154-157 
Gratitude, 180-183 
Greek moral education, 41 
Grotesque, 152 

Habits, 231 
Hall, G. S., 243 
Hands, 66, 67 
Harnack, 243 
Health, 27-29 
Heaven, 264 
Hell, 264 
Heredity, 49-52 
Historic illustrations, 208 
Historical books, 245, 246 
Holmes, Justice O. W., 36 
Home training, 230, 231 
Hope, 109, 122, 299, 300 
Human nature, 24 
Humility, 109, 243 
Humor, 150-154 
Hunger, 69, 70 
Huxley, 22 
Hyperbole, 152, 153 
Hypocrisy, 183 

Ideal, physical, 27 
volitional, 29 
vocational, 29 
social, 29 
emotional, 31 



304 



INDEX 



Ideal, intellectual, 32 
spiritual, 34 
personal, 41 

Ideals, Chapter I 
nature of, 19 
value of, 20 
growth of, 20 
and human nature, 21 
hierarchy of, 40 

Imagery, 201 

Impressions on contempo- 
raries, 113, 114 

Indignation, 175, 176 

Individual vs. . social salva- 
tion, 139, 140 

Information, 234, 235 

Instincts, 73, 74 

Intellectual combat, 216-228 

Intellectuality, Chapter V 

Intuition, Divine, 240-242 

Intuitive Intellect, 209-211 

Irony, 153 

Jeremiah, 17 

Jesus as Ideal, 41, 42 

as Provider, 78-80 

as Healer, 80-82 

as Artist, 199-203 

as Social Worker, 134-137 

as Philosopher, 250-273 

as Standard, 298-301 
Jewish law, 42, 215 
Joy in heaven, 288 

of Jesus, 154-157 
Judas, 92, 93 
Justin Martyr, 61 
Juvenal, 28 



Kant, 2&-30 

Kingdom, joyful, 156, 285 

Knowing, 24 

Knowledge, 228-229, 232, 

235-236, 237, 238, 244-247, 

256, 272 

Laborers, 94-95 

Lanier, Sidney, 300, 301 

Last judgment, 145-146 

Law fulfilled, 247 

Lentulus, 62 

Liddell, Catherine C, 60, 61 

Life, philosophy of, 269, 270 

Literary views, 238, 239 

Locke, John, 28 

Longing desire, 157 

Love, 106, 157-160, 158, 159 

212-214 
Loyalty, 107 

Man, 259, 260 
"Man of Sorrows," 167-169 
Markham, Edwin, 202 
Materialism, 257 
Medical views, 238, 239 
Men and things, 253 
Message to John, 144, 145 
Miracles, 164, 286, 287 
Mission, 145, 270 
Moffatt translation, 114, 144 
Mohammed, 42 
Natural order, 265, 266 
Nature, 55 

Obedience, 106 
Omnipresence, 236 
Omniscience, 236 



305 



INDEX 



Oneness with the Father, 120 
Organizing ability, 134, 135 
Origen, 61 

Originality, 249, 250 
Out-of-doors, 57-59 

Palm Sunday, 162 

Pantheism, 257 

Parables, 95, 98, 189, 279, 280 

Passion for service, 136 

Patience, 108 

Paul, Saint, 20, 32, 85, 100, 

183 
Peace, 195-197 
Perception and action, 232, 

233 
Persons, 251-265 
Philosophy, 270-272 
Physical order, 278-280 
Physique, Chapter II, 49, 

74, 75 
Plato, 28 
Play, 54, 55 
Poetry of Jesus, 200 
Positive type of intellect, 211 
Power, of God, 256 
Prayer, 181, 187-191, 289, 

295, 296 
Progress, 267, 268 
Providence, 255 
Prudence, 108 
Publicans, 90, 91 

Qualities of Jesus, 134-137, 

209-212 
Questions, 82, 83, 216, 227, 

238 



Raillery, 153 
Reasoning, 213-228 
Rebukes, 175-176 
Religion, 42 
Repentance, 288 
Resurrection, 224, 225, 297 
Ross, Professor, 140 
Royce, J., 107 

Satan, 260, 261 
Satire, 154 

School training, 231-234 
Scollard, Clinton, 298 
Scribes, 247-249 
Scriptures, 288, 289 
Second coming, 289, 290 
Self-Assertion, 243 
Self-Control, 106 
Self-Denial, 106 
Self-Respect, 107 
Self-Sacrifice, 111 
Sense and Spirit, 266, 267 
Sermon on the Mount, 285, 

286 
Setting others to work, 137 
Silent years, 56-59 
Sincerity, 107 
Sinful woman, 217, 218 
Sinlessness, 122 
Skill, 89-101 
Smith, Robertson, 262 
Social goodness, 125-146 
Social Gospel, 143-146 
Social reform, 142, 143 
Social teachings, 137-146 
Social themes, 140-142 
Solitude, 127 



306 



INDEX 



Son, the, 241, 242, 252-253 

Sonship, 296 

Sorrow, 296, 297 

Soul, 24 

Space, 267 

Spirit, 256 

Spirit and sense, 266, 267 

Spirituality, 34-36, Chapter 

VI, 277-278, 283, 284, 

297-301 
Study, 215 
Supernatural knowledge, 235, 

236 
Surprise, 169-171 
Symbol, 43 

Symmetry of character, 112 
Sympathetic cures, 165, 166 
Sympathy, 164-167 

Talmud, 99 

Teaching and life, 123-125 
Tears of Jesus, 162, 163 
Temple incidents, 284 
Temptation, 102-105, 285 
Tender consideration, 109 
Tertullian, 61 
Testimony, 118-122 
Theism, 257 
Thirst, 69, 70 
Time, 267 



Torah, 246 
Trade, 59-61, 95-96 
Traditions, 215 
Traits, 126, 127 
Tribute money, 222, 223 
Truth, 32, 33, 242, 268, 269, 
272, 273, 282, 283 

Unique consciousness, 120, 

121 
Unity of Father and Son, 

290-294 

Veronica, Saint, 62 
Victory, intellectual, 225-227 
Vision, 135, 136 
Voice, 65, 66 

Weeping, 162-164 
Wells, H. G., 299 
Weymouth translation, 20, 

100, 126 
Whittier, 47 
Willing, 24 

Wilson, Frank E., Ill 
Wisdom, 228-250 
Wit, 154 
Witness, 242 
Wonder, 172-174 

Zoroaster, 42 



307 



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